Hurt
by Mondo Nyoka
Summary: After the Jedi Purge on Coruscant, Darth Maul returns. Already in denial of how much he has changed since Naboo, he finds himself in a situation that forces him to face his past and present, and to show devotion to someone other than Sidious... 6/11!
1. Every Day is Exactly the Same

**(I do not own anything from Star Wars except for the original characters and original concepts shown through this story)**

LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!

Alright guys... this is **rated M** for a reason. **Adult themes, uber drama, violence, sexiness, not so sexiness**... Just be aware.

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**Ch.1: Every Day is Exactly the Same**

In the depths of space, there was a man who rested in his infiltrator, named Scimitar, by himself. He withstood it better when he was alone.

He never truly slept. He only focused himself to the point where his body was able to get rest and prepared for the next day.

He had not had dreams in years and only thought about what he was to do the next day, such as who he was supposed to kill, who he was to coerce and how. None of it mattered as much as it used to, but at least it was something.

As he lay there, he looked up at the ceiling, filled with nothing but shadow, as the rest of the ship was kept in darkness. The dark was his rightful place of existence and probably would be for the rest of his pitiful life.

He stared intently at the ceiling, as if someone was to fall through to engage him in battle, which would have certainly been much more worthwhile compared to the "mission" he had been assigned to.

Fighting and killing were the paint and brush to his canvas, and the two together turned the majority of his assassinations and battles into masterpieces. But right now, the man giving orders was not interested in using his minion to the fullest of his abilities.

He had trained for close to 30 years, his whole entire life, in the hopes of being able to somehow please his "master".

He became bored with fixedly goggling at the dark and decided to shut his eyes while in contemplation of the events of tomorrow. He was to be at Coruscant, the home of the old Galactic Republic, now the new Empire.

'_The Empire…'_

These words had neither a positive or negative connotation on him and he still was unable to figure why. One would think that he would be immensely pleased from the understanding of his enemy's extinction and his master's rise in power, as well as his brethren. In actuality, he could care less.

He began to wonder if he ever really earned his right of being a Sith. His once master, Sidious, acknowledged his skill and use, even after the incident on Naboo, but no longer held a place for him as his apprentice. Yet he still referred to him as "Sith", which was odd.

Without considering the strange inconsideration of the rule of two, the man tried even harder and persisted on, almost psychotically, with training. He had almost killed Tyranus a few times, through their staged duels. Sidious needed Tyranus, so the Sith let him go off before he annihilated the fallen Jedi.

He could remember the day that he first was given his name- Maul. This was the name of something that was born to bring chaos and untimely, often gore-filled, death. Indeed, he had done so on countless occasions.

As random as it could have happened, his eyes gave way to the sight of something that had definitely happened, but that he could have done without seeing and witnessing once more.

…

He was lying in a hard, cold, and flat bed. He opened his eyes, and a blinding light abused his wake and caused him to slam his eyes closed and, in turn, he snarled at the annoyance of not being able to see.

Maul guessed that he had been strapped down to a steel bed and felt leather laces over his neck, chest, stomach, and even his wrists. They itched and scratched at his denuded skin, for both his robe and tunic were absent.

He wriggled underneath them and could not help but begin to flex his distressed muscles. He was completely confused and enraged by the situation he was currently in.

'_How dare they put a Sith into such an arrangement!'_

He then thought about who "they" could be, for he could hear the sounds of buzzing, beeping, clicking, and whirring, as if he was in the middle of a droid factory.

"Lord Maul, you must not move during the affixation."

Maul looked to his right side towards the voice that had spoken and tensed his eyebrows at a GH-7 medical droid.

"Where am I, droid?" Maul asked with command in his voice, while he continued with his struggling underneath the restraints.

"You are on Geonosia, by the orders of Count Dooku. We are trying to rehabilitate you as you were before Naboo."

The words bothered Maul, as they were spoken in the typical monotone voice of a robot and the Sith did not consider the name that was mentioned.

"Droid, release me from these things," Maul authorized, keeping a calm yet intimidating composure.

"I cannot let you out until you are rehabilitated, Sir," the droid answered with a banaustic speech.

"'Rehabilitated?'- and what do you mean by 'affixation'?" Maul vociferated, his voice deepening into a bellow.

"We are fusing back the lower half of your body to your torso, Lord Maul."

Maul then felt a sharp prickling beneath his naval. He lifted up his head, as far as he could, to see four DD-13 droids needle and stitch at what appeared to be his organs that had been disconnected from one another, along with a B1 battle droid who had its blaster in hand.

He was completely bewildered and almost embarrassed at the pitiful sight of his limp, lower body, which was being conjoined back with his upper body with metal wirings and metal plates. He gnarled his teeth and his already hate filled eyes screamed with complete abhorrence and total pain.

"You must keep still, my Lord."

The robot's lifeless voice started him into a mad hysteria.

He used his dark force to tear the leather straps into shreds, and he heaved his upper body into as much of a sitting position as he could. He wanted to escape from this insanity but his legs were still non-functioning.

The battle droid then made the mistake of raising its blaster towards the now ferocious man and he used the Force to pulverize it. Its many parts scattered into pieces all over the room.

The four droids continued to stitch away as the black palm of his hand thrust toward them. He almost unleashed a wave of energy that would have disassembled them into worthlessness.

"You are quite the animal, Darth Maul."

He looked to his side, to see an older man with salt and pepper hair that covered his face as well as his head. That was all he got to see as the man used the Force to put Maul into submission.

He then remembered what had happened. There had been a duel between himself and two Jedi, and an Obi-Wan Kenobi had left a lasting impression in his eyes and on his body as he finished the duel.

After Maul had dealt Kenobi's master a fatal blow, the Padawan became filled with undeniable rage. His movements became expeditious. But, because Kenobi was in such a rush from his own lack of control, Maul was in a better state for battle.

When he had Obi-Wan defenseless in the reactor shaft, Maul knew that he was his to kill, for he had the high ground.

Then Kenobi leapt up using the Force to enhance his reach and brought his fallen master's light saber into his grasp. Maul watched him fly over his body until he flipped into a quick landing.

That was when the one event that plagued Maul took place.

Kenobi had sliced him in two, an action known as sai tok. One that a Sith would normally partake in, but not a Jedi.

…

Maul awoke from his coma, finding the same light in his face. This time, he allowed the light to hit him and only closed his eyes in discomfort.

There were no straps now. The sound of the medical droids had been removed, as well as their physical being. He was alone.

He looked down at his body, which consisted of his entire lower body as well. At that moment, he could only feel the sensations of blood flowing to his lower limbs and continuing back up to his chest, where his two beating hearts continued to beat in unison.

He wondered how much of his intestine had been lost or how much of any of his lower organs had been compromised. He supposed that since he still breathed, and was no longer in any immense pain, that he had been lucky. An operation to actually try to reattach a separated limb or body part, rather than replace it with artificial additives, was considered near-impossible and had a low chance of success.

'_I don't deserve a chance. I don't deserve to live.'_

Besides the sheet covering up the anatomy of all beneath his waist, he was exposed to the stagnant, cool air that filled the room and surrounded the tattooed skin of his upper body.

The sharp pain was still present and sharpened from his abdomen around to his back. He welcomed pain, though. Hurt was one of the only things real to him.

Out of curiosity, Maul lifted up the covering, to see what it looked like.

There was a scar that last him for the rest of his days and would remind him of his loss. The cicatrix, which was raised, would be there to make him think about the Jedi, and his own distaste for them, as well as that particular one.

"At least I extinguished his dear, old master," Maul commented to himself, smiling a grim smile at the thought of a pain that Obi-Wan Kenobi certainly must have felt.

"For that, I will haunt you until the day you die."

He looked up and saw the face of a man. The face was only slightly peach in color, and his eyes were a soft blue, yet fierce in appearance. There was long brown hair that surrounded the man's face and fell past his shoulders and he had a moustache and beard that, added with his prominent nose and his receding hairline, made him look as if he was middle-aged, even though he was much older.

This man was the last man that Maul had killed before Kenobi had taken his life away from him.

…

Maul jolted upward and ceased hold of his abdomen. His eyes raced around the room, to find the face that haunted him, and his breathing was sporadic.

He was back in the dark again, and closed his eyes from this new found relaxation. He placed one of his palms against his forehead and spread his fingers so as not to scratch them on his crown of horns.

'_That was the most real that it ever felt.'_

Maul was so intent on maintaining himself that he continuously denied himself of the truth. The truth that he had changed since that day- since Obi-Wan had performed and attacked with sai tok. He despised the weakness that came from this, which had caused him to lose control of his thoughts.

* * *

The room was dark and she had been forced to her knees by the same two guards, with the barrels of their blasters pressed into the strangely tough skin on her back.

As always, she was dressed in a pathetic outfit, with only a black halter top that exposed all of her trimmed and starved stomach, and a matching skirt that didn't stop until her upper thigh.

The outfit showed the body of a twenty year old woman, if even a woman, who had been brought down to the level of a bottom feeder.

Almost everything that had mattered to her had been taken away thus far, including loved ones, a sense of safety, and dignity.

The slim muscles that tensed randomly, all over her body, did little to help her when she used to struggle. Now they were unused and neglected.

Her toes cramped, her knees ached, and the feeling of not being able to support the weight of her body continued to rise. She was unable to move her arms and hands due to the way they were tightly constrained against her back.

He had made these chains a part of her new attire, instead of using normal, more modern restraints, because she used to fight with every fiber of her being and actually made it difficult for him. That would not happen anymore, so the chains must have remained because they added to his excitement.

She always faced the ground and never dared to look upon her captor. Even though her hair was pulled tightly back, which caused pressure within her temples, some of her plum-hinted, straggled bangs still found place over her fair, blank face.

The two guards, dressed in blood-red vests and shined armor, had already left her alone in there with him. She was with the man that she hated and feared the most, if she could actually hate someone with some form of rationality. Looking upon his face made her wish that she had been killed along with her surrogate family.

He waltzed over to her, shadowed over her kneeling body, and then snatched up her chin with his dense, strong fingers.

He then stared into her pale gray eyes, once so full of glint, softness, and strength. Now they were clouded with the images of the hurt that passed over her daily.

The ridges of his mouth curved into a vicious smile, as he stared at the thin, purple, teardrop scars that he had carved into her cheeks, starting at the orbital of each eye, ending down her jaw line. The man had given those to her, for the strength, the will, and the defiance that she once showed him.

He rubbed his white knuckle against the marks which caused the searing pain that she was cursed with. She shuddered and lightly shook off the sensation that glossed her eyes, with the same blank expression that she had shown as of late.

Without warning, but not too much of a surprise, he wrapped his hand around her neck and lifted her off of the ground. She did not bother trying to gather air, for she knew what he was to do next.

He threw her across the room and her body landed on a hard, long table. She choked, as the metal around her wrists made a hard impact into her already sore back.

He glided over to the defenseless female and slowly took off his dusty colored robe. He had no tunic on to begin with and the white colored skin over his large muscles flexed. His ice-blue eyes and sharp pupils, that sent chills through the very bones in her body, took in her mature form.

With a tongue that she imagined to be forked, he licked above his upper lip. She shut her eyes, as his lust-filled face scarred her mind and invaded whatever innocence she had left to her.

He grabbed hold of her already weak knees and spread her legs open, sure to position her for his comfort and ease. Her lips pursed and she began to tremble from the knowledge of how he was going to overpower her.

The man laughed quietly and pushed her farther down across the table, until her head hung down the edge, with only her neck as support.

His touch burned into her skin as the tips of his fingers walked up her stomach to make it in between her breasts. He ripped off the halter top and tossed it to the floor. Her eyes clenched shut as he began to grope and molest her with his long and cold fingers.

He continued on and placed his mouth on her chest, and he let her know what he was doing by exhaling onto her. He began to lick, nibble, and bite at her raised skin.

She gritted her teeth, and could feel the warmth in her face from the embarrassment that she had felt.

Her captor then moved one of his hands up to her chin and pushed against it, while he still molested her fullness with his tongue. He caressed downward with his other hand and allowed it to travel down the inside of her thigh, then up the skirt.

He let out a hissed chuckle on her chest as he allowed two of his fingers to invade into her.

She let out a silent cry and allowed her tears to burn through her closed eye-lids, only to have them trickle down her forehead onto the floor.

The urge to repulse was extreme- to cross her legs into an impenetrable knot. But he had her pinned to where she was, as it seemed to her, permanently placed.

Her toes curled from the horrible feeling as he went deeper and faster and his fingers brushed harshly against what bit of her maidenhood was left.

His attention at that moment was directed towards her face. The exhilaration that filled him from her terrible sadness was astounding and excited him even further.

He reached out of her and removed the pressure from her chin. He began loosening and thumbing his pants off of his waist. She knew then, as she had dealt with before, that she was completely helpless from his continued desecration.

He then pulled her back up onto the table, which caused her head to bang against the wood. After hitching up the skirt, he pressed one hand down on her right thigh. After having grabbed his greatest weapon against her, he impelled himself against her false virginity.

He thrust into her and caused a paroxysm of strain throughout her panicking body. She shut her tear-filled eyes and forced her mind to wander through her past memories, which were the only things that were keeping her sane.

She thought about the last person she had seen alive- Barriss Offee. They were sent to Felucia to investigate into a plot to poison its water supply, and had later been joined by Aayla Secura and the 501st Legion.

That was when the three of them realized, with extreme terror, that an "order 66" had been made by Chancellor, or then Emperor Palpatine. At that moment, they had been attacked by a menacing group of characters, along with the Clone Troopers, led by the man that was now doing this to her.

'_Barriss… Aayla…,'_ she thought to herself. _'I am so sorry…'_

He pulled her thighs closer to him, violently, so he could go deeper. The strain on her body was overcoming her and caused her to be brought back into the present. She realized then how much pain her body was in and began to shed even more tears.

After what seemed like hours he had finally released into her. Her body wrenched, in disgust, underneath him, and her eyes sealed down.

The male made a low gasp, quite pleased with what he had done, and flung his head back to wipe off the perspiration from his bare scalp.

He then gazed upon the girl while having allowed each breath he took in and released to escape with satisfaction.

The trails of wetness on her forehead shined, even through the lack of light. Her brows angled down to her swollen eyes, as she tried to cease the rest of the tears that wanted out.

He began to crawl on top of her and then pushed his knees into hers, playing his dominance, which caused a slight whimper to escape her silence.

His face drew him close to hers and his tongue forced her into a kiss, which broke the barrier she had made with her lips. His tongue shifted inside of her mouth and gave birth to a nauseating welt in her stomach.

He let her lips free from his hold and whispered into her ear, "You are still tight as ever, Uriael."

He flicked his tongue over her lobe and she hissed in a disrupted inhale.

"Be glad that I found you before Sidious and Vader did, or I wouldn't be able to use your body to its full capacity."

...

Before she knew it, the two guards that had left her in the previous room had set her ravished body into the cell that she lived in. They then pulled off the chains and freed her hands and wrists and allowed her to fall ungracefully to the floor.

The door, with ray shields blocking her from escape, slammed down and enclosed her into her own loneliness.

The woman, Uriael, brought her throbbing body up on a stiff, blanket-less, and pillow-less bed.

She used to make an awful scene, as she tried finding a way out. Anyone and everyone that had brought her any type of sorrow and despair, she immediately blamed and cursed. And the fact that her chastity was taken from her by a creature that was well trained in the dark arts made her even more vengeful.

But she no longer had it in her to fight back. And even if her body was able, it would not have made it right.

What was vengeance going to do to help or change her situation? Was she to let every teaching and lesson from the years before she was knighted go to waste because of this? If she wanted to remain sane, she could not.

Instead, the young Jedi brought herself to her knees and intertwined her fingers together, against her cheek after having wiped away what remained of her tears. She then moved her connected hands down towards her heart. It beat persistently against her thumbs as she steadied herself. She began to whisper while having calmed herself-

"Illic est haud affectus , illic est pacis. Illic est haud ignarus , illic est scientia. Illic est haud perturbatio , illic est serenus. Illic est haud chaos, illic est consensio. Illic est haud nex , illic est Vis."

The tongues of what she spoke were unknown to the rest of the basic-speaking world. She had taught her master, Shaak Ti, of the strange language of her home world, but she most likely was no longer a part of this universe.

If that were the case, her master was lucky for having truly become one with the Force, which Uriael would gladly take over this life of slavery.

After having finished with her verse, she rolled up into a ball and fought against the tears her shut eyelids had held back.

"May the Force be with us all."

She had grown exhausted from her use and went off into a dazed sleep.


	2. All the Pigs, All Lined Up

**(I do not own anything from Star Wars except for the original characters and original concepts shown through this story)**

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**Ch.2: All the Pigs, All Lined Up**

In the upper deck of his Sith infiltrator, a dark figure sat in meditation in hopes of the depletion of all his thoughts that were of no importance and of no use. His face was covered with the shade of his charcoal robe, and even more so by the dark that he found his sanctuary.

He was a hard soul and even his second heart did nothing to help fill the void in which there was no hope, love, or compassion. He had a shadowed down aura that could freeze over an entire planet if how cold it was could be measured in degrees. He was filled with fear, hate, anger, pain, and suffering.

However eloquent the passionate emotions that had helped build him as an individual, not a single person would have been able to tell through his stern and concentrated features.

In his mind were images of the people that he had trampled over and disposed of through the years; the people that he had laid waste to without a hint of remorse on their lost existence.

As he concentrated on erasing these unwanted memories, he heard a soft and steady beeping in the main hanger meant to alert him that he was near his next destination.

Without being shaken by the slight vibrations of the ship as it entered the planet's atmosphere, he stood directly from the ground and walked to Scimitar's control room.

It had been quite some time since Maul had been to Coruscant. He had once lived there in the apartment of his master's alias, Senator Palpatine, where he trained against many mercenary droids, built his speeder, Bloodfin, and had been given Scimitar to go against Black Sun.

After he defeated Black Sun, Maul was sent on a mission, in which he encountered two particular Jedi on Tattooine and Naboo. During the invasion of Naboo, he met Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi once again.

He defeated Jinn, who was much older and less agile than he was, but was surprisingly and disappointingly finished off by Jinn's padawan learner… or so Kenobi thought.

A few battle droids found his two severed parts nearly destroyed in the melting pit he had fallen in. The droids then took him to an isolated planet and successfully attached him back together. How that was possible, he had absolutely no idea.

He had to rest for two months, which happened to be a couple of the worst months of his life. All he could do was count the seconds as well as await his master's appearance, in which he was sure Sidious would probably kill him for having failed his mission.

To his surprise, he found out that once member of the Jedi, Count Dooku, was sent to him. Along with Dooku was the most unprofessional of any being who could wield the Force- Azazul Kahn.

Azazul, who was powerful enough to be considered important and wealthy enough to be useful for Lord Sidious, was a snake and a cheat in many ways, or at least what Maul had seen.

He was shallow, snobby, and a sybarite and openly took his pleasure in women while on the job. To top it off he was a rattataki, a race known for their love of carnage. Whenever he visited a planet, he tended to leave a trail of blood and perversion.

Maul stared out at the planet through the tinted glass above the control panel. As the ship came closer to landing, he could see the long white lines of soldiers. The troopers were either forcing citizens of the Empire to form into lines going into the Senate Building or patrolling the public facilities.

His stare was menacing, but that was only because of his black and red appearance as well as his devilish eyes. Normally, Maul did not display any emotion.

He turned away from the troopers and looked upon his destination, which was a landing dock that led to a senatorial house within the Senate District. He let out a sigh of displeasure as a ghostly white man with a naturally bald head, a dark brown tunic outfit, a smoky robe, and knee-high polished boots walked out. He must have been awaiting Maul's arrival for quite some time.

The airlock on the spherical cockpit of Scimitar released and a metal ramp made contact with the concrete. Maul had his arms in the opposite sleeves of his robe and took long and steady steps down the ramp towards Azazul.

Azazul was not how Maul remembered him last. In body, he was larger. Instead of edgy and prentice like the young teenager that Maul met alongside Tyranus, Azazul seemed more adult and more refined.

"Darth Maul- you look rather lively this evening," Azazul greeted. "I do hope that you will enjoy your stay here."

Maul's eyes, like an explosion of fire, met with his ice-blue ones.

Azazul's sharp pupils became even more outstandingly tight as his eyebrows narrowed into the center of his hairless face. He knew that Maul was not one to "enjoy" much of anything; he would never admit to enjoying anything, at least.

Maul kept his bit of conversation right to the point as they began walking side by side, at almost equal height, down to the large estate.

"Have there been any problems with up rises from those whom still endorse the ways of the Old Republic?" Maul asked in a mustered-tone, his voice as commanding as always.

"Of course there has- pathetic politicians. Exasperating themselves with useless tirades, towards the soldiers for the most part," Azazul answered matter-of-factly. "It's nice when we are able to tell the troopers to kill on spot."

"The troopers are stationed in almost every republic sector. The Empire is growing steadily," Maul commented.

"And we all have Vader to thank for that," Azazul said, almost complainingly.

Maul was reluctant with Anakin Skywalker at first, mainly from his relationship with Obi-Wan Kenobi. But the past months had swayed his reluctance into respect towards the newly acclaimed Sith. He respected him, only as a Sith, just like everyone else.

So, as Azazul's tone showed his lack of respect towards Vader, Maul shook his head.

'_He still has the ego of a juvenile.'_

"Oh and look. A show of just how blaster-happy the troopers can be."

Azazul gestured towards the city below them, down to where a crowd of people had gathered. A group of men had begun to yell slurs towards a few troopers who had arrested what looked like a senator.

"What is he charged with?" Maul questioned, with a bit of curiosity.

"I would have to guess treason. I believe he is a senator from Corellia who became a bit to open about the formation of a rebellion after a few Alderaan Beers," Azazul proposed, with a smirk.

While the senator was being put inside a vehicle in handcuffs, the men who had begun a riot were shot down on the spot. There must have been fifteen deaths and a few more injuries that were carried out thoughtlessly.

Maul could tell that Azazul enjoyed watching such things like this. But the simplicity of death by a blaster was, in his mind, boring.

He started towards the estate once again and Azazul followed by his side.

"Sidious has made arrangements for you to leave as soon as possible to the Death Star. He wants you to see it for yourself, considering you helped fund the construction."

Maul continued, "I still am unaware of why I have to stay here- is there something that is being guarded or hidden?"

"Sidious ordered me to station myself here, with the belief that there are live Jedi on the planet. If there are, and they are hiding, it will only show them for what they are- cowards," Azazul replied.

"Have you not been here for a little over three months? Have you found no Jedi?" questioned Maul.

"I have found none."

Maul went forward with the questions without realizing or taking notice to the lie that Azazul had just spoken.

Just as they were walking even nearer to the home, a woman stepped out of an ornate entry way that was the foundation of the reddish-brown estate's elegance.

The woman was beautiful, and obviously of zeltron descent. She had fuschia skin, a clear complexion, and long emerald hair that fell down her shoulders in curly locks.

Her body was curvaceous and looked even more enticing in a violet outfit that consisted of a long skirt with a slit up each thigh and a collared tank top with a low neckline.

Her legs were concealed underneath a pair of knee-high, heeled boots. She had a pair of black gloves covering from her elbows to the tips of her fingers. Her look was that of a sorceress, and she began eyeing the Sith.

She traversed over to the two men with exaggerated movements. Azazul simpered, and his eyes grazed over her form.

She came up and embraced the rattataki, and Azazul seemed to enjoy her attention, more than he should have.

Maul was not very appreciative of the woman. His black cloaked arms pulled to his chest, crossing tightly, with an indomitable appearance profiling his tattooed face.

"Let me introduce you to Madame, or Lady Volutta. She is in charge of my handmaidens and of security in the hanger," Azazul explained to Maul.

"So this is the infamous Lord Maul," Volutta annotated, with a deep and exacting, yet womanly voice. Her indigo painted lips molded into a seductive grin. "It is pleasing to have another man of stature to accompany us."

"Separated company, I assure you," Maul expressed, coldly.

"Volutta- would you do me the favor of fetching me a ship for my leave?" Azazul asked.

"Yes I will, Lord Azazul," she replied. "Lord Maul- I hope that we will not be separated for long."

She sized him up at once, with a pair of dark green eyes, before she headed back inside.

"You do not like her? Very interesting," Azazul hissed.

"Unlike you, I don't like overused companions," Maul answered. "She is not of my taste."

"Of course," Azazul cackled with a thought in mind.

"Would your taste possibly be inclined to a younger, suppler woman? She still-" Azazul paused, letting loose a vicious smirk, "feels like a virgin."

Maul walked on, listening, and taking in Azazul's words. He became impertinent, cautious of his meaning.

"She feels like one?" Maul queried. "That doesn't mean that she is."

"If I gave her to you without saying she wasn't, you would have thought she was," the rattataki remarked.

His pace quickened and he roamed ahead of Maul. He devilishly licked his lips, tracing over the row of his upper teeth.

"What is her race?" Maul questioned.

"Near-human."

"You expect me to waste my time with a human?"

"She is the most intriguing human I have ever met. She isn't as submissive as a twi'lek but she craves for the attention that only men can give. Not to mention the fact that her body, as well as her very scent, is strangely intoxicating-"

"Save your breath," Maul harshly interrupted.

"Funny thing is- and I tell you this as a man to a man-," Azazul continued, not fazed by Maul's assailing attitude, "she feels better than anyone I have ever had. Even the little virgin girls that I have become acquainted with in the past don't compare to her."

Azazul stopped in his tracks, as the sounds of Maul's heavy steps silenced. He was astonished to know what the Sith was pondering.

"She isn't pre-pubescent is she?" he asked, almost questioning Azazul's own personal affairs.

"No- I am not into that sort of thing," Azazul assured. "She is young, but definitely past the age."

Azazul could feel Maul's thoughts, the amount of interest that had mixed in with Azazul's words. Maul's eyes narrowed and faced Azazul, threateningly.

"Don't take it personally, Maul, but it is awfully hard to resist."

Maul glared at him and responded rather calmly, "Do not make it hard for me to resist harming you."

"I see that I have just touched a nerve."

Maul gruffly hissed at Azazul and walked roughly ahead toward the house. Azazul then entered into Maul's mind not to search, but to inform.

"_Just take her Maul. What will it hurt? Not you, of course. You having done so will never leave this house."_

Maul, still hooded, turned around to face the other man. His yellow eyes settled and became stern once more.

Azazul added, "You don't _have_ to have any entertainment if you don't want. I was just offering some attraction for you to-"

"I will try your girl. Have her sent to my room tonight."

After having heard Maul's answer, Azazul traveled next to him with an unnoticed grin, and led him into the entrance of his stay.


	3. Pinion

**(I do not own anything from Star Wars except for the original characters and original concepts shown through this story)**

* * *

**Ch.3: Pinion**

Uriael woke up to find that she was covered in something warm and dry. As her hands pushed against the ground, they sank into what appeared to be sand. Her hands that were, at the time, pushing her up became tender from the heat that rose from the unstable earth.

As she stood up she was forced to shut her eyes. There must have been a wind storm where ever she was. The storm was so violent that the sky was not visible. There was only the dark tan sheet of hard dust that covered from end to end of every direction.

She shielded her eyes with an arm and trudged through the untamed ground. She stumbled through walking a number of times. It seemed that moving faster only made traveling more difficult.

Her mind and body urged her to move forward. She did not understand as to what this was for or how she had gotten there.

Just as her thoughts were distracting her from the piercing wind, it stopped. The sand that had been thrown into the air settled unnaturally fast and easy to the ground. Her eyes clenched shut as two suns strained her sight. As she slowly opened them, only allowing so much of the light to pass through, she could see a figure.

She continued forward, in a sprint, through the mounds of sand. The figure she was now running towards seemed to remain motionless. Without understanding the situation, she continued forward.

The two suns glared towards the ground and caused a shadow to reach from the figure to her. Each time one of her feet hit the shifting ground she had gotten closer.

She found herself a few feet behind what looked like a young boy.

"Excuse me- where am I?"

He turned around at her and stared blankly with a pair of grayish-blue colored eyes.

His look concerned her as he looked like he had been betrayed, as if something had been taken from him or done to him.

She paced over to the boy and rested a hand on his head.

"What's troubling you, young one?" She asked kindly, while stroking his dirty blonde hair.

He held a somewhat lost expression and stared at her without saying a word.

All of a sudden, he looked down and began to cry. His little sobs and sniffles coerced her to bring him into a soft hug.

"Why are you crying?" She queried, keeping the tone at a comforting level.

He looked down further and wiped his eyes with one hand.

"Am I going to be like him?" He hardly got out.

"Like who?" She gently lifted up his face to hers, so she could see him speak.

He finally looked back at her.

She froze as the once beautiful blue eyes were now a beastly blast of yellow, orange, and red. His eyes were no longer innocent, but were now filled with a dark evil that she had felt once before.

She withdrew herself from the boy and stepped away from him, out of fear of what he could possibly be or represent.

The boy began to cry harder and his face contorted into a strained frown. He was obviously afraid of what she had seen.

She crawled back over to him, with a strain of guilt in her stomach, and grabbed a hold of his small-framed face.

"_Like who?"_ she asked while her voice shook from his sadness and her own confusion.

"Like me."

The little boy looked past her and was terrified of what he saw, and the voice she had heard caused the very innards of her being to turn into ice.

"_That voice… Anakin…"_

She turned her head slowly to see a man that she had once known, in her life with the Jedi. This man used to be a Jedi, like her, but had recently become nothing more than a dark and twisted monster.

The man wore an outfit that consisted of a large black robe, a mechanical body suit, and a frightening head mask. The sounds of repetitive breathing echoed through her ears, displaying just how inhuman he had become.

His voice then changed from that of Anakin Skywalker into the cold robotic one that was the true voice of the man that had betrayed her as well as everyone else they had both known together.

"Tatooine, Uriael. The Jedi are not yet extinct."

…

"Get up, you lazy wench."

Uriael, still curled up on the mattress, opened her eyes hesitantly. The voice of Volutta, one of Azazul's women, had awoken her from the strange dream that she had.

Volutta was already in the cell and pulled Uriael up by one of her still exhausted arms.

"Sorry, did I wake you? Get yourself up- we have to try and make you look tasteful," Volutta said with rudeness.

"What am I to do?" Uriael questioned quietly.

"You are to stay with one of Azazul's guests for however long he can stand you."

"A guest," Uriael repeated.

'_Now it is with other men too…'_

"Yes, a guest, and a highly respected guest at that. If you show him lack of respect, I will get one of the guards to beat you until you are on the verge of death, and tell Lord Azazul of your impudence."

Volutta finished that off with a smirk, as if she began to daydream about the Jedi being tortured.

Uriael knew well of what her defiance would bring her, if she ever did show it again.

"We have to give you one of our dresses, we have to make you up, do your hair- your disgusting body will be in one of our dresses! I will burn it as soon as Maul throws you out."

Uriael continued ignoring Volutta and did not hear the name of the next man that would have her.

Volutta pulled her naked body through the hall, until they reached an elevator, which led up to the floor where she and the other handmaidens stayed.

* * *

"I do hate this."

Maul was now in the second largest room of the house, where he would stay. Azazul had already left. So he was now the head of this "house."

To his left and to the right of the entrance was a bedroom. It was dark, just how he liked it. He looked in and found a large bed with dark blue, velvet sheets. The room was rather large and included a tall and wide window with velvety drapes.

Out of the bedroom there was a living room, which was full of burgundy-fabricated chairs and couches. There was even an opening to a balcony- a rather large balcony, which seemed to take up half of the room.

The food quarter was basic, but very clean. Maul walked up the steps to the kitchen to go over to the water dispenser.

He pressed a small red button on the wall, which turned it on. He then pulled off the leather, metal plated glove from his right hand, which allowed the water to trickle over his red and black patched hands. After he felt the coolness of the water on his skin, he whisked his hand away and turned off the dispenser.

He left the kitchen, took off his robe and then sent it over to lie on the back of a chair that was seated directly across from the left edge of the balcony.

He then walked into the refresher. It was indeed huge, covered in peach colored tile and lined with silvery grout. The shower itself appeared large enough to fit a whole party of people. The bath next to it was pearl white, awfully large as well.

The cloaked-being took off his black, heavy tunic, which allowed the patterns to show in his privacy. He received the tattoos as a mark of accomplishment when Master Sidious had deemed his training a success.

He sent the tunic over to lie on the back of the couch and walked over to the opening. He looked through a plate of glass to see the city of Coruscant. One of his dark fingers grazed against a screen, which caused the curved-in glass to slowly rise off of the floor.

As he walked out, he could smell the cool air and the smell of the city. The now orange sky was descending into night. He continued on until he reached the balcony's edge. He leaned over the white marble allowing his eyes to linger over the Old Republic.

He knew he should have been pleased for his Master, for he had finally done it. They had found their revenge against those Jedi who had brought destruction to the Sith ranks before him.

But it was not he who had helped; it was Vader. That whiney, little brat that was unable to keep up with Qui-Gon Jinn, the first day that he had made his existence known to everyone.

Maul used to be Sidious' apprentice and his most loyal subject. Maul only lived to serve Sidious. It was all he ever truly held as a truth. Those years of agonizing training and pain had become the closest thing to fond memories that he would ever have.

Now, he did not feel like a Sith lord. He felt like an assassin who just so happened to be connected to the dark side. He was in the shadow of Darth Vader.

Deep down, he knew that he deserved it.

He knew that there were certain rules that he had to obey as an apprentice. Now that he was no longer one, he would do something different. He would no longer hold back the amount of pleasure that he once knew as irresponsible and immoral.

It had been a while since he had felt the alluring sensation of pleasure with a woman.

* * *

"What are these, girl?"

Volutta snatched up Uriael's left wrist, which caused her to wince. She remained silent.

"Even more markings to show your place," Volutta smirked at the girl, who was much younger than she was. "I guess that we will have to dress you in something that covers these disgusting scabs."

This had been the first time that she had worn anything other than a halter top and a skirt.

Volutta and two other handmaidens, both of which were theelin, threw a black dress over her head. It was long sleeved, stopped at the knee, low cut, and tied in the front and back. The front was tied all the way from her bellybutton to her chest.

They pulled it tight, just to enhance her cleavage so that she would come off as bustier than she really was. The ties on her back were mostly for décor and exposed her fair skin. The long sleeves were wide, allowing lack of contact on her chaffed skin.

She watched as one of the maidens pulled her purplish-brown colored hair back into a tight ponytail, exposing the scars on her face. The maiden had pulled her hair so hard that the Jedi was almost certain that her scalp had begun to bleed.

They had piled dark eye shadow onto her eyelids, giving the false impression of older age. The dark green powder made her gray eyes dazzle, but only that.

She stared into the mirror to look at herself. She felt that she looked like a tramp. No matter how glamorous anything seemed to make anyone else, it was filth on her.

Everything she had learned as a youngling and then as a young woman seemed to be a waste. All of the training with Shaak Ti and her other Masters had been useless to her predicament thus far.

She was _their_ whore.

"Azazul will not be here for a while. Your luck, I suppose."

'_If I were lucky, I'd be dead,' _Uriael argued to herself, not allowing her distaste to show on her face.

"Come now- we must bring you to him as soon as possible. Hopefully by his reputation, he will not let you live after he is finished with his lusting."

The woman grabbed Uriael by the arms and forced her to get up. Uriael was the same height as Volutta, but because the zeltron liked to wear high-heels, she towered over the Jedi.

"Now listen- you are going to wear this. You remember what this is, don't you?"

Volutta unveiled a strange wriggling neck brace, which was about the size and shape of a choker, and clasped it around Uriael's neck, rather roughly.

The sensation of several tiny needles entering into her skin resonated almost everywhere the choker covered, and it caused her to wince, but the wince was not much of a surprise as she had been used to this tool against her.

"You know that it keeps the Force out of your reach, as long as you allow it to run its course for an hour. Be sure it stays on for that long. You are not to tell this man that you are a Jedi, or even hint to him that you are familiar with that cur of a group. Maybe even come off as if you enjoy your time with him," Volutta finished, as if she had begun to imagine being with this man herself.

Uriael could care less about informing someone of her being a Jedi. Whoever this man was would not change his actions onto her.

"If you do think of informing him, just remember- Azazul isn't the only one that knows some tricks."

Volutta pushed Uriael out of the room, into the arms of the two guards that had usually taken her to a room full of torture.


	4. Happiness in Slavery

******(I do not own anything from Star Wars except for the original characters and original concepts shown through this story)**

* * *

**Ch.4: Happiness in Slavery**

"Don't give us reason to come in there for you, Girl."

Only one of the guards chose to say anything to Uriael as they led her to this new evil's room. They were like eunuchs, in body and in personality, and had only thrown her to Azazul until now.

The one that had spoken went by the name of Farkas.

He was a bothan, which were a humanoid species that resembled a canine in the face. His long pointed ears were pierced, and his eyes were a golden brown. The hair on his face grew into a beard, long and light-brown in color. He was in command of the guards second only to Azazul himself.

The other was a noghri, a vile creature only in appearance. He had expressive black eyes, sharp teeth that sometimes showed from a customary under-bite, and leaden-blue skin stretched over athletically toned muscle. There were a few guards of that race and none had communicated with her.

"This one is important and powerful," Farkas cautioned.

Farkas always seemed to be the one to warn her in certain instances. If Azazul was in a bad mood, he told her to suck it up. If Azazul had been drunk, he would tell her to keep her guard up. Either way, he showed her courtesy, if you can call any of that courtesy.

She knew that she was going to try to be willing to deal with this person while Azazul was gone. Even though the thought was ridiculous, she had been ready to let herself cope with any man or monster that she was forced to deal with.

But as she walked around the next corner, she had regretted ever believing that the treatment could not have gotten worse.

It seemed as though all of the feeling of the floor underneath her ceased and the air that had passed over her skin and hair diminished from her reality. The stalking sense of someone watching her from behind ensued, and alerted her senses.

Each step felt as if she was stumbling down into a bottomless pit. Her stance became tightened and straightened.

Yes, Azazul was a user of the dark side of the Force and yes, he was strong, but this was nothing like she had ever felt before. It was darker and even more terrifying than she could have ever imagined. She was not connected to the Force at the moment, but she could still feel his power.

The dark that had instilled into her bones was her true warning. She knew that she would be visiting with someone at a Sith's caliber tonight.

The question remained as to which one. There were two, and she figured that Azazul would not be stupid enough to allow Darth Vader, or Anakin, to bed with a woman that he knew.

Her heart could have stopped right then, and she would have welcomed it. The thought of Darth Sidious' sickening touch was almost enough to send her into shock.

'_It must be Sidious,'_ she thought to herself, pathetically.

As she was pushed closer to her destination, the Sith's energies crawled under her skin. His dark energies were all over the place, and went through as well as bounced off of the walls, all at once.

Now that she was in front of the door, she did all she could to ready herself. This was the door that would lead her into a Hell that she would do her best to survive, be it physically or mentally.

The tan door shot upward, which allowed her to see the night engulfed room. She of course was hesitant and allowed herself more time to prepare until the guards grew impatient.

"Go on, Girl," Farkas finally quietly beckoned, while the noghri pressed his blaster into her shoulder.

Disheartened, she went in while her body tensed with stress. After she was far enough inside, Farkas and the other guard left, and the door silently closed down.

Uriael was left there, alone, in the presence of the Sith. Where he was or what he was doing, she was not sure.

The room was frigid, which she had not been accustomed to. In normal circumstances she would have already broken out into a sweat, for Azazul loved his room to be stifling hot.

She wrapped herself up in her arms and exhaled with shivers. It was all she could do with so little coverage from her current attire.

After her eyes grew used to the change in light, she noticed a large balcony door. It was made of glass, and allowed the city's lights to shine against the carpeted floor.

She found herself walking over, softly on her bare feet, momentarily uncaring of the other person in the room with her.

Her hand met with the curved glass and her eyes took in the new Coruscant. She could only remember how beautiful Coruscant once was when she first came there.

When she was a young girl, her father had found that she had a special gift. He knew first hand that she would probably have this gift and he had connections to Saesee Tiin, an iktotchi Jedi council member, and he used the opportunity to allow her a better life.

Tiin, and a Jedi knight, Shaak Ti, had traveled to her home world personally to take her in front of the Jedi Council. Shaak Ti, who had not been successful with her first two padawans, was given another chance to properly raise a knight. Eventually, that would have been Uriael herself.

Those lights that she once loved and held close to her heart were gone now. There was nothing but the emptiness of the void that she was afraid would never be refilled, ever again.

Just as she began to slide her fingers down the glass while deep into her thoughts, the presence of the Sith was finally revealed, and ever so kindly, interrupted her.

He had been behind her for some time, examining her, and watching her in the dark. He had been perversely eying her body, scrutinizing, judging, and patiently teasing himself with what he wanted to do to it.

Her eyes collected with trepidation, as she lifted her hands away from the glass. She could see her breath, the small streams of fog fading into the dark. No matter how strong she kept, her body continued to shake.

"You're trembling."

She swallowed in air, which pressured the brace around her neck.

The voice did not sound like Emperor Palpatine's, so she knew that it was not Darth Sidious. And it certainly did not sound like Anakin's either… but then, who?

"It's cold," she replied, while doing a good job in speaking without stuttering, remembering Volutta's threat.

She figured that if she kept quiet, that the strange man would begin to suspect that there was something different about this particular servant.

"I like it cold."

His voice was deep and calm which caused Uriael's body to tense ever more strongly. The emotionless tone filled her ears and almost seemed to send her signals as to what was to be done to her.

The slight sound of steady, yet heavy feet hit the ground and ended right behind her. The air shifted, and she could feel that his face was over her right shoulder. She tightened her hands into fists, with the hope that she could calm her nerves.

A warm breath hit the slant of her neck, and her body's reaction both concerned and disgusted her, and continued to do so as both of his hands grabbed each side of her slim waist.

His fingers and palms moved down her hips, gently but also perversely, only to smooth upwards towards her upper belly.

"What shall I call you?" she asked, faintly, hoping to distract her nerves from his touch.

"Master," he answered, with a slight smirk.

"Yes… Master."

She shuddered as he firmly pressed her into his body, only to feel firm skin against her own. He was topless and she could tell that he had a masculine build. She knew right then how strong he was and, most of all, how much damage he could do to her small frame.

'_Ignore the feeling,'_ she pleaded with herself.

His fingers began to untie the front of her laced dress, from top to bottom, and pulled the threads out of their holes, allowing the dress to become loose against her body. They then traveled from her bellybutton all the way in between her breasts, until they made it to her shoulders.

A warm cheek disquieted Uriael, as it rested against her own.

He inhaled through his nose as he moved to the laces on her back.

'_She does have an alluring scent.'_

After he had finished untying her dress from behind, he pulled the lace through and tossed it to the floor.

The Sith moved his hands up her back to her neck and followed around the brace- he paid it no mind, as he was more concerned with touching her smooth and, apparently, hairless skin. They then went down her neck to find the only things that were keeping her dressed, right on the very edges of each shoulder.

She could feel his thumbs forcing down the sleeves of the dress and she hoped that her embarrassment with herself would go unnoticed.

The dress was now a pile at her feet and the piercing inclemency met with her body and caused goose bumps to crawl about her skin. She dismissed the feeling of his hands traveling up her body, only to rest against her breasts.

Maul relished every contour over her trimmed figure. Her stomach and abdomen were not only flat, but felt toned, as did her hips, her back, and her shoulders. Her breasts were also satisfactory and fit almost perfectly in each hand.

His touch was relaxed and grazed over the small bumps on her bare skin, despite the lust that wanted immediate claim.

He began to move himself into a lower position on the floor. She stayed obedient and followed.

"You are cold," he groaned as he began to place himself on top of her much smaller body.

Her eyes were closed and she remained amenable underneath him.

Maul could not see her, but he could perceive exactly what position she lay in. He shoved a hand under her, plastering it in-between her shoulder blades, and lifted her up to him, while keeping one hand against the ground to hold up the both of them.

He could see, just barely from the intrusion of lights from the outside, a bit of her face. Her eyebrows were furrowed over two softly shut eyes. Underneath her eyes, he could see two strange markings.

'_She is tough,'_ he analyzed, noticing that she would not open her eyes to him and that she kept a look of impassivity.

He seized hold of her posterior and brought her against his clothed crotch. It was nice and firm in his hands. She in turn was broken of her solitude and let out a soft moan. She also opened her eyes.

'_Damn…' _She was ashamed.

After all of the times that she had been raped and molested, she was still not used to it. Each and every time, was like a first. For whatever reason, her body would not allow her to become used to it- any of it.

His hands then pressed harshly against the outside of her hard thighs, only to position his thumbs inside to move her legs apart from one another.

"I promise that you will get more out of me than Azazul," he explained as he pressed himself on top of her, while pulling down his pants.

Uriael presented with a sinking feeling in her gut as she felt just how aroused he was and how close he was to commence with his pleasure-seeking act. He was hard against her midriff and slowly allowed himself to slide down to her fearful opening.

Her heart began to race as she could feel the very tip of his member right at the entrance of the very place that had been wasted by Azazul, and it took all of her will to keep herself from acting on the urge to fight back against him. But the fact that he had no idea that she was a Jedi as well as the fact that he was unaware of her disinterest in having sex made her want to deal with the pain rather than make it into a rape.

The Sith brought his face down over hers in hopes to really see what she looked like, but the darkness shadowed over most of her features.

Her eyes were shut again, he noticed. Not once had she looked at him. He knew that it was not because of his appearance, since they both were unable to see the other.

He allowed himself to lessen the weight that he had put onto her so that he could move his left hand towards her face.

She almost flinched, but resisted from doing so, when she felt the oddly soft touch of a rather hard hand underneath her chin. It lifted her face and, out of instinct, she looked up.

The shadowy appearance of the man that she was with was only intimidating because of what he was, but the touch of his hand did not fit with the villainy of her usual captor.

He finally saw that her face was more than descent and actually was very attractive- the shape of her face had angular features, but a petite chin and soft cheek bones that were not overly prominent. On top of the cheek bones were markings that went from under her eyes to right above her jaw. She had lips that were not too full, but perfectly aligned and even to each other. Her nose did not come out too far and had a featured flatness to it, but it certainly matched well with the rest of her features.

And then he saw her eyes which, with even the smallest amount of light, glistened. The slightly slanted shaped, gray and pale yellow eyes were now unknowingly looking into his. They watched him with curiosity and a certain anxiety which was perceived, on his part, as impatience.

"Does Azazul find you pleasing?"

"Yes, Master," she answered uncomfortably, as her cheeks grew hot while his fingers went to stroke the left side of her face. "I hope you are also pleased."

Maul answered the woman by having condensed his lips onto hers.

Uriael knew that there was no getting out of this situation without him having his way with her, so she obliged to his kiss and responded back by opening herself up wider to allow him easier entry between her lips. She even went as far as to press her hands against his chest, almost defensively, which was something she had not been able to do in a while.

Both of his hands found their way to either side of her face, at the soft touch, of what he could only imagine as thin and beautiful fingers, pressed against his chest, and he began to get into it further with his tongue, wanting to explore within her nether regions in exactly the same way. Maybe he would… but at that moment, he only thought of pleasure for himself.

The Sith found that he truly wanted to relieve himself of the celibacy that he had lived with for over ten years. He hadn't had sex since he was in his late teens and early 20's, but what he could remember from it was an amazing feeling that even he thought was worth revisiting.

He would do his best to pleasure her as well, mainly to downgrade whatever prowess that Azazul had shown with her, but he was almost certain that the night would last the both of them long enough to where each would have to count the number of times that they peaked.

He did not commence with his act, however, because the woman seemed to be stressed about something, as if there was a conflicting attitude towards the situation.

Maul found it strange that this woman was as tense as she was. According to Azazul, she hadn't been a virgin since three months before, and the fact of the matter was that she was, according to Azazul, in the business of prostitution. But she still seemed uncomfortable with the situation. Even if thus far she had done nothing to show resistance to his actions.

'_I wonder…'_

He ignored his own carnal desire to enter and relieve himself into the woman and decided to investigate her, before he acted on his instinctive want.

* * *

At first, all he could see was darkness. There was no sound, no movement, or anything that would awaken his senses and he was unable to see the solid ground that he was walking on.

Suddenly, he found that the darkness had turned into a room painted of a deep azure.

'_Sadness,'_ he silently observed.

He could feel a number of things that she was enduring and had been enduring. Right now, she was in a state of dysphoria, which Maul didn't particularly appreciate due to what they were currently in the middle of doing. But, he felt that there was a more chronic and underlying reason to her depression.

She was grieving… the loss of family. She had lost a number of people that were close to her, and recently as well. There was also something that had been taken from her person, against her will.

'_This girl… who is she…'_

Sounds of rustling movement whispered through the room. Maul turned to where the sound came from and saw a strange sight.

A little girl with long, purplish brown-colored hair was sitting and facing the corner of a wall. She had an exotic blanket with strange, indigenous, multi-colored markings wrapped tightly around her shoulders.

She seemed to be messing with something and struggling with it as well. The sounds of the clinking of metal, almost the same as shackles grinding against one another, bounced off of the walls into Maul's ears.

The sound itself was enough to make him want to go over and snatch what ever she was piddling with out of her grasp, but he was more concerned with who this child was supposed to be.

As he made his first step towards the girl, he felt a pull against his chest and back. He immediately stopped in his tracks as the Force was being used to keep him from moving.

'_What the Hell-'_

"Don't even think about going near her."

Maul turned his head to the right and saw a figure in the very far corner of his sights.

"Adevo supe hi, Uri," the woman said, eyeing the little girl.

_[Come over here, Uri.]_

The child immediately turned around confusedly at the woman, but when she realized that there was a strange man standing in between the two, her expression went from confused to fear-filled.

Maul peaked over at the child's dirtied face and saw that she had strange "7" shaped markings under each eye, just like the young woman that was in his room with him. She also had rusted chains around her wrists.

The little girl looked as if she was in conflict with herself. She stood up and took a few small steps forward towards the woman that had called for her. But then she peered back up at Maul and hesitated, too afraid to go any further.

"Ope non fati- is ca per vo iam," she convinced after having noticed the girl was scared.

_[Don't worry- he can't move right now.]_

The little girl glanced up at Maul once more and then decided to trust the older woman. She grabbed the blanket and held tightly to it to keep bundled within it and ran towards the woman, and sped up as she fearfully ran past the strange man.

"Let go of this hold you have on me," Maul ordered the mysterious woman.

"Why are you here?" the woman asked in a demanding manner.

"What's it to you?" Maul remarked.

"I don't appreciate strangers looking into my thoughts," she answered, honestly.

The woman lessened the hold that she had around his torso. This allowed him to turn around, to see who this person was.

The woman was young, in face and body. Her eyes were a strange form of yellow and gray and she had a strange variant of brunette and violet colored hair, the same as the little girl's. Her hair was parted on the right and braided back into a tight bun. Her skin was a mix between fair and bronze, and her complexion was clean.

She was wearing a steel gray, v-neck tunic which had sleeves that met her elbows, and covered all the way until just a few inches above her belly button, which exposed a toned midriff.

Underneath her tunic was a black, turtle neck skin-shirt that filled the space between the low dip in the tunic's neck line and the rest of the length of her arms until they were stretched over her palms, only leaving her fingers exposed.

Just below her belly button was a pair of tight, dark gray cargo pants with a black belt. The legs of the pants were stuffed into a pair of black boots, which had no heel and stopped right above the knee.

Maul was not only interested at the exquisite look of the woman but was also surprised at her audacity- to ask him who he was and what his business here was.

"You are foolish to question my motives here," he commented, half-way hissing out his displeasure.

"Why? Because you are a Sith?" she questioned.

"Precisely," Maul answered back.

"Whatever happened to the rule of two?"

"That is no concern of yours."

"You must not know what I am then," she explained. "I especially don't like strangers who happen to be of Sith-origin to wander here."

Maul could have screamed in laughter. Did this demanding woman really think that she was in a higher position than he was at that moment?

"You obviously dislike me because of that," Maul noted. "You are also frightened of that fact."

The woman glanced downward and shook her head weakly and let out a soft sigh.

"Do you have any idea… what you are doing?" she asked and looked back up at him. "What you are doing to her?"

She motioned to the little girl that was hiding behind her left leg.

Maul looked over at the girl once more and noticed that she was still trembling fearfully behind the older woman.

"I am curious as to what you think I am doing to you," Maul growled. "Not that I would care."

"Why would you care about bringing harm to someone-" she voiced aloud to herself.

'_Harm?' _Maul thought to himself, obviously not understanding what she meant.

"-especially a Jedi."

Maul stopped in thought after having heard what the woman just said. His eyes grew wide and his heart began to race to the point of being able to feel the pulse in his neck. Every muscle in his body tightened. Even his jaw clinched, which caused his teeth to grind against one another.

Out of instinct, he reached within his black robe to grab a hold of his lightsaber. But it wasn't attached to his belt. As a matter of fact, his utility belt was missing from the rest of his attire.

His brow furrowed over his eyes and he glared towards the woman.

'_She's… a Jedi,'_ Maul convincingly said to himself.

The woman seemed to have struck a new emotion out of the Sith and did so almost intentionally, it seemed. But the little girl was not so happy about what the older woman had just announced.

"Sit non volo scio!" The little girl exclaimed.

_[He isn't supposed to know!]_

"Vos shol non permi a Sith operor tali a re vobi. Vos postulo pugno tergu," The older woman answered, with finality.

_[You should not let a Sith do such a thing to you. You need to fight back.]_

"Well," he commented with a menacing tone, interrupting the conversation they were having in a foreign tongue. "Whatever I was doing to you before is going to be wanted compared to what I will do to you now."

The little girl, completely overcome by anger and sadness towards the older woman, and by an indescribable fear towards the Sith, tried to protest against him leaving, but the older woman- the Jedi- held her back to allow him to exit her mind.


	5. Big Man With a Gun

**(I do not own anything from Star Wars except for the original characters and original concepts shown through this story)**

* * *

**Ch.5: Big Man with a Gun**

She could feel him inside of her head, more so than she could feel his tongue in her mouth. Not even the neck brace could make unclear what she was, especially a Sith as powerful as he.

This became more apparent when the soft touch that she had felt on either side of her face turned into a rough grasp. Even his kissing became more abusive when he had started letting his teeth through his lips.

Uriael had enough and her body as well. Her senses told her to make distance between herself and her company.

The Jedi bent her legs and shoved her knees into his stomach to lift him off of her body; at least enough for her to crawl out from under it. With all of the strength she could muster within her arms and fingers, she grabbed onto each of his wrists and detached his bruising hold from her face.

As immediate as it was for her lips to be free of his, his eyes opened back to the real, filled with a now doubled rage that had burst to life within her mind.

'_That little bitch!'_

'_Oh no…'_ she breathed to herself, as she began to crawl speedily towards the opposite side of the room and grabbed the dress on her way.

Maul went from crouching on the ground to rapidly standing straight and his heavy feet slammed onto the floor. Maul was no longer smiling or smirking; his face was now contorted with hatred.

'_I am going to kill Azazul- he dared to give me a Jedi!'_

His arm extended outward as he went into a leaping jump. His double-ended saber twirled from his tunic and belt on the couch into his grasp.

Uriael backed herself into a wall while shielding her nudity with the dress. Her thighs kept it in place to cover her crotch, and she overlapped her chest with the rest of it.

Right then, she felt his body disturb the air violently and could hear the sound of a powered lightsaber, like a crash diminishing into nothing but a whooshing purr.

Her legs recoiled closer to her as he landed and towered over her frightened form.

His saber glowed of garnet and filled the darkness with its eerie presence. He leaned in close with his weapon, just to be sure that she could feel the torridity of its touch.

It was then that they both saw each other, for the first time.

She couldn't see much, even with the light. The only thing that her sight could take hold of was his eyes. They were styled with a wild yellow and a vibrant orange that shot away from his black pupils. The demonic optics dug inside of her and held her down with his eternal gaze.

His hairless brows angled downward and folded over to show that he was fuming. His look matched greatly with his occupation.

'_May the Force help me.'_

Maul took in the Jedi's sallow face. Her incensed, gray eyes were almost colorless, having been overtaken by the red glow. Strands of mulberry lay messily over her cheeks, almost hiding the markings that coordinated with one another as if they were a reflection of the other. They were the same markings that he had seen on the little girl not long before.

He knew that she was under his mercy, or lack of, as of now.

"You are a Jedi," Maul explained almost to himself, with hatred.

The two stared at one another for a long period of time, him with hate and her with an untamed foreboding. She felt like an injured lamb that had been surrounded by a pack of starved wolves.

"You hide your ties with the Force well," Maul commented, calmly out of his anger. "I haven't been in the presence of a Jedi in a long while."

He sized her up, finding the dress clenched to her body. She was not as attractive as before, now that she was a Jedi.

"So how often do Jedi females turn into whores?"

"Your words mean nothing to me," she replied.

The fact that she was able to act defensively surprised even her.

"You are full of deceits, Jedi."

"Flattery never was becoming of a Sith."

Maul snickered to himself, humored by the Jedi's courage with words and disregard for the authority that was his. He could do to her things that most wouldn't live through. He knew that she was well aware of this.

He wondered why she did not fight back against him, as he had her pinned down with the lockdown that his eyes made. He also wondered why he could not feel the Force act as one with her.

"Tell me why I do not sense a connection to the Force in you," He growled.

"What does it matter?" she asked frustratedly.

"It matters because I say it does," He cachinnated.

"I always thought that Sith held no interest in sacrificing a kill- especially that of a Jedi," Uriael explained, ill-tempered by his constant humiliating words.

Uriael shut her eyes and looked to the side, not wanting to look at him.

He wasn't some dark Jedi like Azazul, but must have been trained as a true Sith. Even Azazul needed chains and his power to block her from the Force just to have his way with her. This guy did not. His eyes were the proof of it.

"So, what are you waiting for?"

Maul knew that she was terrified of him. At first, it was just the discomfort of a girl who hadn't been used to sex. Now, it was the fear that a young Jedi had towards a Sith.

"Tell me why the Force does not run within you," He commanded whilst pointing his lightsaber straight between her eyes. "If you don't, I _will_ kill you."

As much as she didn't want to obey his whims, she couldn't hold up with the constant slander that she had already dealt with for the past three months.

"It's this," she answered quietly.

Her hand touched the brace around her neck, only to fall back to hide herself from him.

Maul felt naïve from not noticing the strange thing around her neck before. It was too simple to really grab onto someone's interest. He thought that it was nothing but a choker.

He became even more infuriated.

'_This little thing tames the Force?'_

He would give anything at that time to meet the person who made the device, just so he could rip their limbs off.

"Who made this?" He vociferated.

"I don't know," She answered.

"This makes the Force seem like nothing, this foul device."

Maul snatched hold of it, pulling it and Uriael over to him. With a lash of his arm, the brace was ripped from her neck.

He threw it across the room and it landed on the steps that led to the kitchen. He watched as the brace wriggled and leaked a dark substance, only to cease moments after.

Uriael's already tender body tensed in discomfort from the man's act of anger. She gritted her teeth underneath her lips and opened her eyes once again, only to find herself face down on his hard chest.

She backed away from him, in fear of the beastly man who had total control of what was to happen to her at that moment. But because she had come into contact, she could see more of him than before.

The whole of his upper torso was painted with strange markings- tattoos. They traveled over his body and had a look of arcane symbols. The tattoos were symmetrical from one side to the other. Ebony and scarlet colors proceeded over him and neither overpowered the other.

Using the wall as support, Uriael pulled herself up, only then realizing that the skin that was once covered by the brace was lightly dripping blood. She held her knuckle to her neck and tensely wiped off some of the liquid.

Even though the brace was away from her neck, she still couldn't feel any connection with the Force, and she was well aware that the Sith could tell as well.

The dress still concealed her from him, but how hard would it be for him to whisk it away? How easy he could seize her and do his work.

As the dominant person in the pair, Maul followed her movements like a lion would follow its prey. He saw that there, what he guessed, was blood lightly dripping down her neck, which must have been from him taking that device off of her.

He powered down his light saber and left her in shadow once again.

"What am I to do with you?" Maul asked dangerously into the darkness.

She continued to lean into the wall with a full hold on the dress, as he began to pace back and forth, contemplating his options.

"Tell me your name and title," Maul finally demanded.

"I guess any species of game needs a tag," she responded rebelliously.

"You are awfully proud for a Jedi," Maul claimed.

His hand flexed and Uriael's breathing was stopped. He had begun to use a force-chokehold on her.

"You should not be so proud."

While still trying to encase her nudity, Uriael's body rose into the air and her back dragged up against the harsh wall. She sealed her eyes, trying to keep her mind focused.

"You are probably the only Jedi left; alone in this universe."

The Force constricted against her breathing and began crippling every sense that she had. All the air in the room became unavailable to her.

He traversed over to Uriael and traded the Force with his bare hand. His hold on her was even more merciless than when he used the Force, and crushed down on her windpipe.

"You take up space that is needed for something with purpose."

She opened her eyes and there was still only the dark. This time, however, she didn't know if it was because the room was lightless or because she had begun to black out. Either way, she knew she was slowly being killed.

She had wanted this before. She had preferred to be dead, to be with her family once again.

To no longer have to deal with Volutta and her heinous criticism, always saying horrible things to make her feel even more disgusting than what she had become.

She wanted Farkas to be gone, so she wouldn't be told of what her fate would be for each night that she would be sent into her "master's" room.

She wanted the threat of Rokujou, Tanran, and Setan to be nonexistent, so she could defend herself without having to worry about the possibility of being tortured even more.

And then, there was Azazul. Why did she care about the other three with him around? He punished her daily and nightly. He was the true threat.

Her body wouldn't let her give in to his assaults. Why? If she was to be there for the rest of her days, having that done to her, why would her body not want to be used to it?

She had prayed, more in those months than in her whole life; she had begged for a way out. She pleaded for an answer that would explain to her why she was going through this. Was it a test, or a sign? Maybe even a trial of some sort?

Or perhaps, this was just something that was happening to her, because no person has control of what happens in his or her life. The good die along with the bad, taking the influence that could have educated instead of dominated, along with them. She was weak and therefore was not up to fighting back.

'_No- that isn't true. You are alive for a reason, one that you must find out for yourself. You have been put onto this path. Now, you either fight for yourself or die for yourself.'_

The perplexity of these thoughts and the fact that she was running out of air had sent tears from her despair.

His hand continued strangling her throat and kept the air away. Her pulse, once beating ferociously under his palm, had speedily begun to slow down from the lack of oxygen.

He watched as her face went into unconsciousness. He smiled, as if he was accomplishing something by having taken hold of a defenseless woman, who of course couldn't match up to him in strength. Should he have not been satisfied?

'_Come on- you can do this,' _she beckoned to herself.

Uriael decided that her life was more important than her modesty. She let go of the dress and allowed her naked body to show into the dark.

She then took hold of his wrist with both of her hands. This new spark of energy may not have been much, but she had to try. She couldn't let herself die like this.

She began scratching at his hand, trying to separate his grip from her neck.

Maul began to laugh inwardly at this useless fight. All that this defensive tactic made him do was restrain her breathing more. His nails practically dug into her skin.

She tried to scream, but only cried. The tears were her call out for help. It was just her luck that tears always came without sound.

He could feel the pulse in her neck grow slightly from her struggle, even through slothful attacks. He went on and forced her body to grow cold under his might, in which she soon became inert and didn't struggle against him anymore.

There was nothing that she could do. The strange feeling of death was devouring her, and she felt like she had to welcome it. She didn't want to give up, for her spirit still had strength and would have been able to fight against such a problem, if her body was not so wrecked from the past months.

Now she lost all sense from the lack of oxygen to her brain. She saw images of memories pass by her eyes, and the last was one of the worst days of her life.

Maul felt her tears trickle down the cracks between his fingers. The tears were the only bit of warmth that she had left. She was so close to being dead and lifeless in his hold. Oh how he would have loved for that to have happened. He was ashamed in himself for fondling a Jedi; disgusted was the most proper word.

As her demise was literally close at hand, something happened. Out of his control, a presence inside of him took command of his will and his mind had, for some reason, connected with her now dying thoughts.

* * *

He found himself in a room, much like the one he was staying in. The lights were dimmed and he could hear violent movement where his mind currently was.

He turned around and found Azazul, who had just thrown someone into a wall with his dark Force.

The body cracked and dented the wall and the sound of growling could be heard. Pieces of the wall toppled over and covered the person in concrete and dust.

Azazul walked over, with his typical snide smile, after the person. It was the same sick smile that would come on his face when he wanted something. But, something had begun stirring from underneath the rubble.

The body of a woman, dressed in a very short slave outfit, darted out, and Maul could see that her hands were tied behind her back. He watched as she jumped into the air and, seemingly, used the Force to launch herself at the man, then landing a kick on Azazul's chest, which sent him across the room.

The woman was full of energy and instead of being pleased with her attack against him, she continued after him without hesitation. Even in the risqué outfit, she ran and fought against him like someone trained in the art of fighting.

She was just about to kick his head in before a spark shock of true dark power bolted out towards her, and caused her body to convulse through the air.

Azazul got himself up, with both hands darted out in front of him. After a few seconds, he released her from the dark lightning.

Her body plopped down to the floor, and she lay almost unconscious.

The rattataki walked towards his victim and grinned wickedly, as he began to unclothe himself.

"Now, Uriael- you really shouldn't try to resist," he explained to the injured woman. "This is a very important day. You're going to become a true woman!"

He then began to strip her down to her naked skin. While doing this, the woman gave off groans of protest.

"Let us see how much one can fit into a Jedi."

Maul watched, with a mixture of discomfort and disgust, as Azazul positioned himself on top of her, as well as in between her legs. He then impelled all of his length inside of the woman in one painful thrust.

At that very moment, her eyes went from half-way closed to all of the way opened. Visually, it looked as if every available muscle in her body flexed, probably to even out the pain away from her unused opening.

Out of a pair of pinkish-brown colored lips, that looked as if they had only ever spoken softly, came out with the most terrible cry of pain and vulnerability that Maul had ever heard in his life.

Her eyes had filled with fear and anger, and the familiar yellow-grays were surrounded in pink, where white should have been. The words "no" and "stop" were mentioned at a high volume a number of times, but Azazul continued into her, as hard as he could, without a care to her objections.

Each time she kicked underneath him, which was her only means of defense, he would slam a chalk-colored fist down on which ever knee was jabbing into him. After a few minutes her persistence wavered thin and he continued to grind into her with no objections.

Finally, his face contorted with a look of intensity, and he pounded into her harder than he had before, until he caught himself with both of his palms, on either side of the Jedi's upper body.

He then placed his head against her chest and relaxed on top of her, without any complaints from his now shocked and quiet victim.

"I hope you don't mind that I didn't use protection," he mumbled against her skin, and lifted his head to see her face. "I suppose I got a little carried away with you."

Her head rested on the left side of her face, and her skin was stained with trails of tears, dirt, sweat, and a look of hopelessness. Her face only changed as she flinchingly shut her eyes again, while Azazul had pulled himself out of her, leaving blood and a mix of his and her secretions around her bare thighs.

Maul knew that even a rattataki such as Azazul, who naturally was able to control the minds of other species, would have a difficult and almost impossible time with controlling a Jedi.

Right then he had not persuaded her to procreate or properly seduced her with his mind tricks. Right then he had done nothing but rape her.

This was the reason why she wasn't "used" to sex. She had never intended on having sex. She had something like that taken away from her, by force.

He looked back down to her, but was surprised to see that her gray and yellow eyes were directed towards his own. As if she could see him standing there, before her. She wasn't looking at him with resentment or hate, but rather, with pleading features.

Her still lips moved and she whispered something that, for some reason, affected him.

"Kill me," she said in the softest voice that could have been made at that moment. "Please..."

The woman- no- the Jedi presently at the mercy of his tight hold, who was also lying before him, broken and used against her will, had asked him to kill her.

"I'm not finished with you yet," Azazul laughed, through taking gulps of something. "I might just use you until you die on your own."

The words she had spoken, as well as the rest of the scene he had just witnessed, sent his own mind into a frenzy of thoughts and a conscious dilemma. What this Jedi had had done to her was something that hit him personally. She had done to her, what his-

...

"Damn it."

Maul let loose of the hold on the girl's neck. Her body dropped and the room filled with the sound of amplified coughing and heavy, desperate breathing.

He turned on the lights, baffled and angered by the situation he was in.


	6. Piggy

**(I do not own anything from Star Wars except for the original characters and original concepts shown through this story)**

* * *

**Ch.6: Piggy**

The air came through fast, which unsettled the dryness in her tender mouth and throat. Unceasing coughs followed immediately and scratched at her now worn pipes. For a few minutes, she remained in this state caused by the shock of sudden, available oxygen.

Maul watched the Jedi, who was becoming used to the absence of his strangle, with disappointment for himself.

Still getting used to all of the available air, Uriael began to tremble. The air seemed to be the rivers of milk and honey that now soothed her whole existence. Being able to breathe after she swore she would die had to have been one of the most beautiful sensations that she had felt in her life.

The now lighted room seemed to welcome her and the wall that she lay against felt cool and comforting on her tense back. The air in the room nipped at her, but she was not disquieted by the goose bumps that arose on her exposed body.

After she had fallen into a much needed rest, it felt as though not five minutes had gone by before reality set in.

'_I am still naked in a room with a Sith that just tried to kill me.'_

She snapped out of her restful trance and situated her back even closer to the wall.

Uriael shut her eyes abruptly, because she was not used to the amount of light in the room. Her arms and her hands searched the floor in hopes of finding the dress again but it led to nowhere and she ended up having to use her legs and arms to cover herself. The Jedi kept still and opened her eyes steadily so they could get adjusted to the morning light.

Finally, her tired eyes focused in onto the Sith.

He was sat upright in a chair right across from her wearing a black outfit consisting of a collared under shirt that fit close to his neck, a folded over tunic which was both loose and long, but held together with a leather wrap and loin cloth around his waist. The pants he wore were nearly covered by the tunic's length, but from below the knees, they were stuffed into a pair of thick soled trekking boots.

The Sith was at that moment situating a glove onto his right hand.

At that time, though, she was more concerned over what was permanently done to his skin.

His whole face was painted with crimson and ebony colors, with etchings of the same cabalistic symbols she had seen not long before. Two viciously angled lines of black traveled over the red, starting from two horns placed on the edge of where a human's hairline would grow, all of the way to his brows, giving him a permanent look of petulance.

'_He must be a zabrak,'_ she thought to herself, noting the way the horns grew.

Black ink brought out the brightness and intensity of the yellow color of his eyes, which must have penetrated into her mind more than once.

Her eyes darted away from him, from her own feeling of discomfort, as he must have been sitting there with her like that the whole time she was regaining air.

"Finally alert, I see," the Sith commented, with a malicious tone.

Uriael did not answer.

"I believe that you now understand that there is no use for defiance. Tell me your name and your rank."

She was about to ignore his order and wanted to keep quiet and calm, but she remembered him last night and how he had almost brought her to death. Though curious as to why he showed mercy, she decided against testing his limits.

"Uriael Lumen. I was a Jedi Knight," She answered, showing her obedience.

"You were a Knight?" the Sith questioned insultingly. "Tell me your age."

"20 years."

He shook his head, with a prominent smirk.

She held back her tongue, not wanting to give the impression that she was annoyed. He had no idea what she had done to be given the status of knighthood.

Her eyes wandered the room in the hopes of looking at anything but this new captor.

'_What are you going to do to me?'_

Maul watched her with the full knowledge that she was discomforted by the situation that they both were in. His eyes dug deep into her and studied her slightly shaken movements, and he noticed that she once again had begun to avoid eye to eye contact with him.

"What, Jedi? Do you find me grotesque?" Maul chuckled wickedly within himself.

He got up from the seat and walked towards the Jedi until he stood directly over her, and then forced her to her feet.

She met up with the invisible hold that was around her two shoulders- she didn't want to be taken control of- and once again, to her distaste, her nude body was in sight.

He was a few inches taller than her and his body was large. She herself was muscular, but only with what her female frame would allow.

"Look at me."

He clutched onto her chin and pulled her face towards his. She let the tension in her neck release, so the leather hand could do so and looked at him blankly.

His eyes were still the same and his being closer wouldn't change that. His look didn't seem more demonic or arcane. The only thing that was slightly different was that she could see a horn in front of each ear, a piercing in the cartilage of his left ear and the shapes of the tattoos that were on his face.

Maul noticed that she was observing rather than fearing and had begun to stare down at the two scars under her eyes. They weren't there when he saw into her mind the last time.

"You aren't afraid of my appearance," Maul smugly responded.

"What reason would I have to be?" Uriael asked.

She had been so used to the many different races of alien Jedi that roamed the temple, this artwork was nothing.

"Ah yes, the Jedi are non-prejudicial and accepting," Maul commented, almost sarcastically.

"We _were_ accepting," Uriael said flatly.

She turned up to him with a look of anger.

He smiled an evilly humored grin.

"I do feel for the fact that you are the only one to carry on such rudimentary ways."

It amazed her how anyone could find the death of anyone humorous, and most of all, how anyone could parody the deaths of her family.

They never hated anyone. They never brought harm to anyone because they could easily over power them. She always thought of them as neutral and the only time that they felt the need to fight was during the Clone Wars, and that was only because they wanted to help protect the Republic.

Her lips folded inward, and the direction in which she was looking went right back to the floor. Warmth filled her cheeks and her long purple bangs fell over her face.

'_That's what you deserve you tramp, for showing me your rape- for stopping me from finishing you off.'_

"Pathetic," Maul scorned.

He walked away from her and she sat back down on the floor.

Maul reached his hand out towards the couch, and a large robe shot into his grasp. His other hand beckoned for the double ended saber, which spun into his hold. He then latched it onto the clamp holster that was on his leather wrap.

"You will stay here."

Uriael's eyes darted at him, almost stunned by what she had just heard.

"You're leaving?" Uriael inquired. "And leaving me here?"

"Your density doesn't surprise," he poked. "I have business of my own to attend to- not some Jedi turned call girl."

His left hand opened up to his side, and a strange metal bracelet flew from the kitchen into his palm. He secured the cuff around his left wrist, which was the control device for his droids, infiltrator, and speeder.

He threw the robe over his body and shoved his arms through the sleeves. After he seemed to be caped, he advanced towards the door.

"You should get a shower," Maul criticized, "and some clothes."

"I don't have clothes to wear, other than that," Uriael calmly snapped as she pointed at the dress which had been tossed near the couch.

"And why won't you wear it? It was probably the only thing appealing about you last night."

"Then why were you so quick to rip it off?"

The two glared at one another, Maul with intimidation and Uriael with a sudden refinement.

"Don't think of running away."

He picked the hood of his robe up, and let it fall over his head. The both of them traded disturbed looks, and he left her by her lonesome.


	7. Down In It

**(I do not own anything from Star Wars except for the original characters and original concepts shown through this story)**

* * *

**Ch.7: Down In It**

The Sith pressed the screen on the right side of the door and glided through after it shot up. It flew back down with a wave of his hand.

He began walking, to his right, down the long dimmed halls. The walls were a plain deep maroon color, and the floor was made up of sand-colored tile.

The large senatorial house looked to be empty of any other living thing, but Maul was able to sense a large quantity of people some floors below him. He decided to keep his distance.

He wished to search for Jedi that may have been in hiding since after the purge. Lord Sidious had told him that he felt a presence. He wasn't sure if it was on Coruscant or not, but the presence was faint.

He was almost sure it wasn't the Jedi currently in his room. The force must have belonged to someone who had been in touch with it for nearly half a century.

Maul decided not to waste any time. Unlike Azazul, he did as his master requested and expected of him. Even though he was no longer the apprentice, he still considered Sidious his master and still held him in a filial light.

He continued down, following the tile which led him in the direction of an elevator. As Maul thought about Azazul, a strange feeling of anathema coursed through him. He tried to brush this antipathy off, but couldn't.

Hate was good for him. It had always given him an immeasurable amount of energy, which almost killed Tyranus in one of his training sessions, after the affixation. But this hate had come from something that Maul wouldn't even allow himself to admit or think back on.

Maul stopped before reaching the elevator with the full knowledge that someone was coming up. Through the glass that lined the complete elevator shaft, he could see the city of Coruscant. It was still disheveled.

The elevator rose to the level that Maul was standing, and two brown doors opened to reveal a rather large bothan male.

The bothan was wearing a metal vest, similar to clone trooper armor, over a red skin shirt. The vest also covered over the lowest parts of his torso. He wore tight black pants which accentuated his rather bulky thighs, and metal knee-high boots that were wide from his large calves.

Maul knew some about this species, but this particular bothan was not within the average height range normal to his race. He had to be at least two meters tall.

The bothan's ears twitched and he glanced up at Maul, looking away from a data pad. His look was that of confusion.

Maul cocked a brow underneath his hood.

The large hairy man brought himself over to the front of Maul, and bowed to him respectfully. His mane of light-brown hair fell past his face.

"Who are you?"

"Lord Maul- I am second in command of the guards. I go by the name of Farkas."

Maul slightly bowed his head to the bothan, and walked on past him.

Farkas turned himself around and almost asked Maul something.

"What is it that you wish to know, Commander?" He asked in an all knowing voice.

"Did you have any problems with the woman, Lord Maul?" Farkas queried.

"No," Maul answered.

He continued towards the elevator.

"Would you like me to take her from you?"

"No. As a matter of fact, the Jedi will be mine until Azazul returns from his jaunt."

Farkas was now on alert.

"How did you know that she was a Jedi?" he asked Maul. "Did she tell you of her order?"

Maul almost heard a hint of despair in the Bothan's deep voice. Even though his tone was nonchalant, the Sith could still feel what was on his mind.

"Why would her telling me that matter?" Maul asked out of curiosity.

Farkas kept a look of composure as he responded.

"Lord Azazul gave us the order to severely discipline the girl if she was to tell you of her order, if she was to give you any complications, or if she tried to escape."

Maul hissed an inward sigh. _'She was threatened.'_

"She did not need to tell me," Maul claimed. "The Force inhibitor around her neck wasn't able to shield it from me."

His body rounded, so he was now facing Farkas.

"I would like for someone to bring under garments and clothes for the Jedi. Nothing provocative," he ordered plainly. "I will be gone for a short while. Make sure that she doesn't leave my room. And don't let anyone, other than yourself, go in."

"You want _me_ to bring her clothes?"

"Yes- you don't seem to be the type that would be tempted to disobey."

The dumbfounded Bothan bowed down again. "Yes, Lord Maul. I will do so immediately."

"I suppose it would be best not to inform anyone else that I know," he added, "Don't let it slip, yourself."

"Yes, Sir."

Maul had already placed himself in the elevator as Farkas obediently replied.

...

The Sith stood firm in the middle of the lift, and closed his eyes in deep thought. Each breath was silent, and he waited patiently to reach the first floor.

A lot of things had been on his mind as of late. Strange visions seemed to haunt him. He continuously told himself that they weren't important, these things. They were fictitious and irrelevant to the task at hand.

The morning sun let off immense light as Maul walked out onto the ship docking station. It didn't make it through the shade of Maul's hood, so he wasn't fazed.

He was only six meters away from his Sith infiltrator, Scimitar, when he pulled back his left sleeve. He pressed in a sequence of codes on his control bracelet, and the ramp to his ship released onto the ground.

Yet again, another code was entered in, and the sound of an engine from the inside of the infiltrator commenced.

His lean Sith speeder bike, Bloodfin, went gliding out of the ship, and stopped right in front of him. The speeder may not have been armed, but it had been pared down enough to deliver maximum speed.

With a wave of his hand, he commanded something else in his infiltrator. Almost immediately, a black, polished droid, wandered down the ramp with a blaster rifle in its grasp. Its red lit robotic eyes followed the Sith. It was an ancient HK-series assassin droid that Maul had found by chance and brought back to life, figuratively speaking.

"Your orders, Lord Maul," The droid spoke in its plain, yet intellectual voice.

"Make sure that no one enters the ship while I am here. I don't trust any of these guards as of yet," Maul commanded.

"What should I do if someone were to try?"

"Give them a warning."

"And if they were to persist?"

Maul gave a hidden smirk with the full knowledge of what the droid wanted to hear.

"Kill them," Maul answered back.

"Very good, my Lord," the droid said in response, not fully able to show how pleased he was with his answer.

Maul sat himself on his speeder, Bloodfin, ready to be off on his mission.

The droid, numbered HK-48, walked back up the ramp and closed up the Sith Infiltrator from the inside.

Maul grabbed hold of the handles to the speeder bike, and quickly turned them. He went off to search over Coruscant.

* * *

Uriael threw back her head to let the warm water make its way, once again, through her lavender-hinted locks. The shower ceiling poured out with trickles of wonderful water.

She had already shampooed her hair twice and washed herself, taking advantage of the time that she had. The Jedi didn't know when the Sith had planned on coming back, so she tried to hurry with scrubbing down her body.

After she was done with washing the soap off of her body, she leaned her back against the porcelain wall of the shower, and slid down until she was seated on the shower floor. The peach color was strangely complacent, and the shower itself gigantic. Yet no matter how comfortable the setting, she still felt trapped.

Her head lay softly on the wall, against the unevenness where the grout met with the tile. Water still fell onto her thoughtful face and body, keeping her warm.

Being a Jedi, she didn't want to admit her loathing of the situation that she was forced into. She couldn't even say in her mind that she hated it. There was something, however, that she could not hide. It was an emotion that caused her adrenaline to rise to the point where not only the essence of her being, but the actual ventricle through which her blood passed would constrain-fear.

She was undeniably afraid. After all of the things that had happened, she still found herself waking up in the middle of the night in a sweat with chills.

When she was a Knight, she had always felt as if she had control over her own situation. The level of her maturity during her years as a Padawan made it even easier for the council to grant her the title.

Now she was a frightened, timid girl changed by the desecration brought to her.

In her head she could hear Master Yoda saying those old chosen words- _Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering._

It wasn't like she was trained to deal with the sort of torture that Azazul had bestowed onto her. She could deal with pain- being beaten by someone much larger than herself, being shot by a separatist blaster pistol (which happened at least twice), being starved for weeks, and even being experimented on. She had even felt a pain like no other when Azazul had launched a flurry of metal discs in her direction and three cut through her.

In the end, however, there was something about having one's body used and abused sexually against their will.

Uriael pushed up against the wall to stand. She had enough of the shower as well as dwelling on such a dismal subject.

As she walked out of the shower entry, censors on either side shut off the water automatically. The refresher was filled with steam and humidity, and she became chilled from exiting the warmth of the water.

Hoping that there would be a towel hanging up outside of the shower, she found that there was not even a wash cloth.

'_You should have looked for one before you got in the shower.'_

Just as she began putting herself down, the sound of a whooshing door played into her ears.

She looked to the side, almost startled, as three small cleaning droids scurried across the floor. They entered out from a cabinet door, which had been swung to the side.

Two of them were not even close to her knees in height. Those two were gray. One of them began following her around, and she found out soon that it was cleaning the water that she had been dripping all over the place. She could hear the vacuum sucking in the excess moisture away from the tile.

The next small one began expelling air from an opening at the base.

Uriael glanced at the mirror, and noticed that the vapor from her hot rinse was fading. The steam around her began to die down into small puffs of fog. Soon enough, there was nothing.

She walked up to the mirror, and saw the last traces of the eyeliner and shadow that Volutta and the Theelins had painted on her face. She wiped the bits of crumbled, black powder with her index and middle fingers.

Something tapped on her shoulder. She turned quickly and bent her neck to look down at a small silver housekeeper droid. It was in the shape of a trash can with a domed head and was equipped with long and lanky arms with four flexible fingers and had a blue lit visor for its vision.

"Hello, Ma'am. My name is J-23, and I take care in cleaning the rooms and taking orders on this floor."

It then reached behind itself with its left arm and pulled out a white, recently folded towel and held it out towards Uriael.

"Thank you, J-23," she said appreciatively as she took the towel, which she was glad was soft and warm.

Uriael always enjoyed the presence of droids. Even though everyone of made up of flesh that she had encountered in the past few months had been careless to her, droids didn't seem to comprehend the fact that they should treat her in the same way. Especially the simple ones, such as the one who had just complimented her with not calling her a tramp, trash, or Jedi scum.

"I am sorry for the mess," Uriael apologized.

"We were made and conditioned to do this task, Ma'am," was all that the droid said.

"Well, thank you-"

"You know, they don't respond to thanks like living beings."

Uriael turned to find Farkas standing at the bathroom door. He had in hand a pile of clothes and a pair of black boots.

She couldn't think of anything to say to him. No explanation or reason as to why she was standing there, wrapped in a towel, clean for once…

"Lord Maul wished for me to bring you clean clothes," Farkas explained, with a gnarling voice.

She never knew how to take the sound in his words, mostly because he was a wolf-like humanoid, and didn't show much emotion.

"Really?" Uriael commented. "Thank you, very-"

It had just occurred to Uriael that Farkas had just said the name "Maul".

"I beg your pardon, but did you just say Lord _Maul_?"

"That would be his name," Farkas retorted harshly.

"As in, _Darth Maul_?"

"This is the first time that you have ever made me repeat myself," Farkas growled. "Just take the clothes. I also have-"

He ceased with his sentence, as he saw the look of sheer horror spring up on the Jedi's small face. She started backing away from him, not wanting to comprehend what he was saying.

'_No. It can't be. He was killed. Obi-Wan killed him.'_

Uriael found herself backed into a wall, slowly shaking her head.

"Master Kenobi killed him, after he killed Master Jinn."

"Why are you rambling on?"

'_He cut him in two._'

The Sith that was known for murdering one of the most well known and well respected Jedi Knights, was alive.

Farkas looked rather annoyed by her reaction. The fur on his long snout began to stand up, and he crossed his arms tightly. His metal boots chinked against the floor, as he began to tap his foot, up and down, from his uneasiness.

"Get over it, girl. He obviously hasn't done anything to you yet, to my surprise," Farkas grunted. "You've been through this for a third of a year- almost every single day. Have you not been used to it yet?"

He stood in the doorway waiting for an answer.

She wouldn't answer him. She was confused and bewildered- not many people, including Jedi, knew of that Sith assassin's name. Only a select few, and by accident, she was one of them.

* * *

Maul was now in the lowest mile of the Galactic planet. He took quick glances at things while on Bloodfin's back. To all of the subhumans and other creatures that found refuge in the abandoned area of Coruscant, he was nothing more than a blur of shadow.

The smell of corroding metal was heavy down in the dumps of Coruscant. Maul guessed that it was due to a mixture of broken down droids and the foundations themselves.

It was immense with overcrowded bars and male entertainment, and he was certain to have passed the Outlander Club. Going down here would be a surprising sight for anyone who thought of this as strictly a business and government oriented planet.

He would not have found himself in such a place if it had not been for the Force. It led him further down to the grounds of the planet. To the foundations of the tall rise of buildings that had been added on to for probably over a few centuries.

At first, he went down at a steady rate. He didn't want to miss any sign that would be given to him. His wandering eyes went right and left, and caught only glimpses of the occasional brothel or tavern. He didn't pay the setting any mind. It was a dump down there and only the most desperate of men would dare to venture.

He became impatient with the searching, and was beginning to question his own sense. It had been close to a year since he had gone searching for Jedi. With certain things that seemed to wander through his mind, he began to curse himself.

'_Stupid- That is what you are. You let her live because of some idiotic thing like that.'_

Maul then remembered something from his past. Not something that he wanted to recollect. It surprised him to remember such a thing that he should have forgotten. It was a vague memory.

…

_He was sitting in a corner of a small house, shaking, with a strange cold expelling from his red skin. He was just a little boy, not even the age of five. For a child, he had already understood fear and knew of pain well._

_He could hear a woman, yelling at him for a reason that he himself was not even certain of._

'_What did I do now?' He thought to himself, bringing himself further into the corner. _

_The woman's voice was annoyed and trembling, sporting curse words and slandering the young boy in their native tongue. _

_"You've ruined my life, you little demon!"_

_His hands covered his ears, and he tried to keep the tears from falling down his little face. He wanted her to stop terrorizing him and to stop referring to him in such a horrible manner._

_The woman rushed to him and stood there while jabbing her finger in his direction. The small boy curled into a tighter ball, shaking from all of these horrible things that she had to say about him._

"_I never wanted you- not ever. I will never love you! And still, you bring yourself back here!"_

_His pleading eyes met with the tan woman, whose dark brown hair barely covered the many horns that surrounded her hair line. Her honey-glazed eyes darted back at him, filled with tears._

"_You are nothing to me, or to anyone. Stay away from me!"_

_He had had enough. He couldn't take it any longer._

"_Stop it, Mommy!"_

…

Snapping away from this vision, he found that he was speeding through the maze that was this lowly place, not knowing what directions he had taken. Seeing bits of his past like that wasn't normal for him. It caught him off guard completely.

A sudden directional drop in the Force beckoned him to stop. He did as his instincts commanded, and soon a strange breeze blew past him and let a warm zephyr make its way underneath his hood.

He could feel something or someone down there. It was so faint and he couldn't tell if they were even alive. There was definitely someone down there, who could or once was able to will the Force.

The speeder went straight down, farther into the darkness of the never-ending walls. The essence of iron and steel machinery, busy at work, became stronger than what it had been before. He was reaching the ground.

Mold and fungi was prosperous, most likely from the heat and rain. With how low he was, he knew that the area wasn't tended to like the Emperor's offices or the assembly hall where the delegates of the Empire would meet.

The humidity would have been discomforting to some, but Maul wasn't one to budge. He was accepting of the temperature and the amount of clothes that he had on. He hadn't even begun to sweat.

The haggard smell of the mold was overpowered by an even stronger scent, which tickled Maul's nose especially. A familiar scent that he had been trained to withstand- the smell of rotting flesh.

Bloodfin slowed down, outlining the ground just a couple of feet beneath him. He swung his right leg over, and stepped down from his transportation.

The Force was frantic down in the grounded cavern. Maul couldn't see as to why. There appeared to only be decaying corpses and trashed droids. He guessed that the bodies must have been dead for at the most a month.

He treaded over bones and parts, searching. The sound of his boots crushing metal and ossein echoed through the walls of the catacomb. This was a dirtied place where these poor individuals had met with Death.

Maul of course didn't mind. None of what he was seeing had any effect on his conscience let alone his stomach. He had been so intertwined with the dark energies that seized his force, that death was natural to him, whether it was from old age, a heated battle, or plain murder.

The blanketed odor of gangrene, rust, and a number of excretions would have brought most into a choking frenzy, and probably into a slight mad spell with all of the necrosis pulling off of skeletal remains. The heat made the cycle of their decomposition hurried and much more disgusting.

With what meat and skin was left on their faces, expressions of suffering, terror, and malevolence seemed to glare at the rest of the world, with stares that saw nothing.

A few had the expression of malaise, probably from dying down there as opposed to already being dead.

That was when he noticed a face that had none of those expressions. The flimsy body of a man stretched over a pile of out-of-commission droids.

The skin on his face and shaved head seemed to go from a dark copper to a diseased green. The muscle underneath it must have deteriorated, because his cheek bones were sharp, and gave a starved look. Other than that, he seemed to have a calm aura about him.

Maul looked over the corpse, and observed that he had on a dark brown tunic.

'_A Jedi.'_

It would have explained the pull of the Force that had surrounded the body.

He had been searching from that morning to that evening, wanting to find a Jedi to kill. It made him thirst for blood, the urgency of a worthy kill taking hold of his conscience.

In the end, all he had was the corpse of a dead Jedi.

What made him curious was that all of the Jedi killed had been thrown into a fire hole for the spectatorship of the Empire. Obviously this one was misplaced.

Maul then took the time to consider such a thing. Lord Sidious told him that he personally killed four Master Jedi, all of them members of the Council: Mace Windu, Kit Fisto, Saesee Tiin, and Agen Kolar.

He glanced down at the man's right arm, and saw that a hand did not show from the sleeve of his tunic.

Maul now knew that this was one of the leaders of the Jedi- Mace Windu.

Most dark Jedi would have mutilated the corpse of such a man. Maul wouldn't. Under his teachings, he did learn to hate the Jedi, but he himself also grew to respect them as his most worthy foes. He wouldn't dare desecrate this man's body.

Maul turned away from the Jedi, and left him in his horrible death bed. He returned to Bloodfin, and set off over all of the rot that he had to trudge through before. His mission was both a success and a failure, in finding no Jedi alive and in not being able to kill one.


	8. I Do Not Want This

******(I do not own anything from Star Wars except for the original characters and original concepts shown through this story)**

* * *

**Ch.8: I Do Not Want This**

Bloodfin roared as Maul rushed back up to the senatorial building's large hanger. As always, he stopped it suddenly, without it having any bearing on his still frame.

A few Noghri guards were hanging around the landing dock and looked curiously at Maul, but he failed to care.

At that moment, troops of clone-troopers had formed into lines and began to board onto several assault ships which were docked somewhere not far away from the hanger. All had blasters in their hold.

Maul kept a straight stern face through his confusion, and demounted the speeder. Once again he pushed the left sleeve of his robe back, and placed commands in the wrist link for Scimitar's ramp to open.

The Noghri, as well as some of the clones, watched on as the speeder flew into the infiltrator by itself.

Maul began wondering why the troopers were in such a hurry. He didn't receive any warning from his wrist link about anything that may have happened.

He turned over to the Noghri guards, whose lean muscular bodies were already stood straight up.

"Noghri- tell me where the clones are going."

One of them stepped forward and took a knee and planted a fist into the ground, bowing his head to Maul. Before his face tilted downward, Maul could see a scar that traveled down from his forehead, over his nose, and down his lip and also that his left eye was clouded.

The Noghri would have to be one of the most misjudged species, possibly because of their vicious appearance; they had sharpened teeth, black eyes, and a wiry build beneath a bluish-gray exterior.

While their appearance left a lot to the imagination, they were at one point used as slaves by other races, and could be easily persuaded towards a particular side. In this case, they were manipulated by Azazul and the Empire, in general.

"Lord Maul- the troopers were ordered to go to the Tattooine. I do not know why, Sir," the Noghri guard responded in a whisper, which was typical when they spoke Basic.

"Tattooine," Maul repeated to himself. "That'll be all,-"

"My name is Lande, Sir," the Noghri completed with his faced still directed towards the ground. "I am next to Commander Farkas in rank."

"And them?" Maul asked as he looked at the two Noghri behind Lande.

"They are my sons, Lord Maul."

One of the two sons also had a scar and was taller than the other two Noghri. His scar was only a straight line on his right cheek.

The other Noghri was shorter and probably the youngest.

"The oldest is Brann and the youngest is Himmel."

"That'll be all, Commander," Maul ended.

"Why do you show them such respect?"

Maul turned around to face a small group of three people standing at the top steps from the landing to the house.

Maul found himself concentrated on a pale skinned Twi'Lek, whose lekku were wrapped around his neck and chest. He had blood red eyes and pointed teeth to match his gaudy appearance. His forehead grew outward which made his face look abnormal. He was wearing a black tunic and cape, similar to what Darth Tyranus had worn.

Behind him were two women which included the risqué Volutta. She was wearing a dark green outfit with long viridian opera gloves, leather pants that disappeared seamlessly into stiletto boots, and a leather bodice that left her midriff exposed.

The other woman was another Twi'Lek, only teal in skin tone and attractive. She was wearing a black leotard that was cut high to show a lot of leg, and the neck line cut low for cleavage.

Unlike the pale Twi'Lek and Volutta, she did not appear snide or content. She must have been his slave.

Considering the fact that he could sense a disturbance in the Force, he figured that one of the three was a user of the darkside.

"A Sith shouldn't have to do such a thing- especially for such a species. Unruly animals are all they are."

The sound of a bellowing growl came from behind Maul. He knew that it was the youngest son, Himmel, and that the oldest brother, Brann, was holding his overzealous sibling back with an arm.

"Don't be foolish, boy," Lande hushed. "Brann- take your brother away and deal with him."

Brann did as his father requested and he began to drag his seething brother onto a balcony close to the hanger, all while he glared contemptuosly at the male Twi'Lek, as if he wished to lunge out at him as well.

Lande bowed down to the Twi'Lek who had just insulted his kin, and then to Maul. The Sith responded with a slight bow.

Maul did not appreciate his ethics to be questioned, with what little he held.

"I show respect to who I wish. I don't need someone corrupted with Fortuna blood to tell me otherwise," Maul retorted coldly.

"Not a fan of my cousin? I am Tanran. You can say that I am a bit more successful than Bib. He depends on the Hutts too much for his own good," the Twi'Lek stated.

While Maul let the man's words flow into one ear and out the other, he noticed a glare that came from around the Twi'Lek's belt- two glares, to be exact.

He walked up to the Twi'Lek and glided up the steps leading into the building, so he could get face to face with the Dark Jedi.

"Where did you get those lightsabers from?" Maul asked with a deep tone.

"Lord Azazul gave them to me as a present for giving him a few Twi'Lek servant girls. He says that as a man who wields the Force, I am in need of such a weapon, or two," Tanran answered coolly.

"I would have been most astounded if you had actually killed the Jedi that those belonged to," Maul shunned.

He had already grown tired of this Tanran, who was blatantly full of himself without reason. He continued on into the building, walking on the lighted path.

The Twi'Lek girl moved quickly out of his way and bowed her head to him.

Volutta giggled next to Tanran and cocked a brow for and made a blue smirk towards Maul. She was intrigued by the Sith.

Tanran, noticing the lack of loyalty from the woman as she stared after the Zabrak, hissed a cackled laugh to draw attention to himself.

The aquamarine Twi'Lek kept quiet and remained straight-faced. As his slave, she would have had to keep quiet, even while her master made a fool of himself.

"Lord Maul- coming from someone who was beaten by a Jedi Padawan, your ridicule doesn't hold firm," Tanran said smugly.

Both Volutta and the blue Twi'Lek held their breath, as Maul stopped in his tracks in hopes of carefully considering what the man had just said.

The Sith continued to quietly stand there, annoyed with what Tanran had mentioned.

"You should pick your words with more thought," Maul explained threateningly.

"And you think that I am going to let some disgrace to the Sith name call the shots around here? I will have to humbly disagree," Tanran shot back.

"You should stop while you're ahead, you stupid Twi'Lek," Volutta advised in a hushed snap.

Maul ignored what Volutta had began saying, and stated, "I was trained as a Sith by a lord- your Emperor, nonetheless. Do you think he even knows of your existence?"

Maul made it to where he stood face to face to Tanran. They were both around the same height but Maul still shadowed down onto the man. The dark force that surrounded Maul compared to the amount of force that Tanran had available to him was a major contrast.

"As a Sith, I was taken to Korriban for several days. I'm guessing you've heard of it before."

Tanran and Volutta became ridiculously quiet. Korriban was certainly nothing to joke around with.

"Sith go to Korriban and survive to tell of it. You wouldn't last there for more than a few minutes," Maul hissed.

The Sith walked back down the entry, knowing that he found the first person that he decidedly would not trust.

* * *

Uriael had begun sorting through the clothes from the pile that Farkas had placed on the sink countertop, and almost sighed at the sight of a pair of white undergarments. She had never thought that she would miss the support of such things and put them on immediately.

Looking more into the pile of clothes, she found a small gray tunic with short sleeves and it relieved her to not have to wear revealing clothing.

She moved her arms through the sleeves and moved her head through the opening in the neck, and she found that even though the neckline was a bit low, it still covered in all of the necessary places.

She then threw on a pair of black shorts, which were longer than the skirts she had worn, but still a bit high up on her leg.

Uriael took the fabric wrap that the handmaidens put her hair up with and ripped it in half right down the middle. She took one of the pieces and tied her moist hair up into a ponytail.

"Sir Farkas- why is it that you wait on me?" Uriael asked timidly, while speedily, almost absent mindedly, braiding the tail that she had made.

"I was told to watch over you."

"To make sure that I don't try and escape?"

"To make sure you don't leave and to make sure no one else comes in here. So-"

Farkas paused for a brief moment, contemplating what he was about to say.

Uriael waited for his gruff voice to continue.

"-I am here to protect you."

'_Such a good protector he is.'_

Uriael never knew what to think about Farkas. She didn't know him as much as some of the other characters, but she didn't feel threatened by him. On the contrary, he made sure to feed her, made sure to be sure she wasn't flung into her cell if he was on duty to escort her, and he warned her as to the manner in which her captor would present.

To warn her, though, wasn't exactly a preventative measure. It wasn't like she could put up a necessary defense with prior knowledge of whether or not Azazul had downed a few alcoholic beverages.

And then she had to remember that he was in the service of the Empire and that whether he was good or bad didn't matter, for he had to obey the orders of his higher ups.

"What are you doing in there, girl?"

"Nothing, Sir," She answered plainly as she used the second piece of wrap to fasten the end of the braid.

The last pieces of clothing were a chestnut colored robe and a pair of short fabricated boots, which she could slip right on.

Before walking out with the boots in hand, she glanced into the mirror. The get-up may not have been what she used to wear, but at least it partially concealed her from the untamed eyes of men.

And at least the make-up was gone. She looked like herself for once.

She exited the bathroom, and let her eyes wander around the room. The apartment was enormous, with a rather large social room, kitchen and table, and a balcony. She wasn't that interested in the balcony, though. The scenery was too much of a tease.

She shoved her feet into the boots, which were more like galoshes with soft fabric insulating the inside. The more insulation she had the better in that frigid room.

While thinking about the cold as her still wet hair brushed against her neck, she wrapped the robe tightly around herself.

She stood right in the middle of the social room and turned her direction towards Farkas, who was still by the door.

"Are you going to stay here with me the whole time, Sir?" Uriael asked the Bothan.

"I suppose not. I don't think that you will try to escape. I believe Lord Maul would find you," Farkas said with a hint of sarcasm.

Uriael didn't find it amusing and remained quiet.

He continued, "I am leaving. Don't try anything foolish, because I really don't want to have to punish you."

Uriael curtly nodded her head to reassure him once again.

"I brought you some food. I wasn't able to give you any yesterday."

Farkas pointed over to the kitchen. There was a small tray with cut up fruits and thin bread on an island in front of the water dispenser.

Before she knew it, Farkas had gone.

Uriael went over and sat down on the couch and lucidly watched the room. She needed time to think and to prepare. She was still a prisoner and no amount of clothing or food would keep the Sith from doing whatever he wanted to her.

The room was still darkened but there was some light that came through the glass door. She looked at the light, thinking about how easy it was for it to come in there, but how hard it was for her to get out, safely. The Jedi sat with her face in her hands, continually staring into the light.

'_I wonder what month it is.'_

She knew that she had been captured in the last week of the fifth month, Nelona- she couldn't remember the exact day, though.

Just then, the tin-shaped robot J-23 had popped out of the kitchen, while telling a few vacuum droids where they needed to start their chores.

"J-23," Uriael called.

The droid rolled down the stairs that led from the kitchen down to the living room, and stopped right in front of her.

"Are you in need of something, Ma'am?" it asked in its robotic voice.

"Yes, do you know what today's date is?"

"It is the 15th of Yelona."

"Thank you," Uriael provided, while thinking about how long it had been since she had become a prisoner, "that'll be all."

She came to the conclusion that she must have been there for almost three months- close to one hundred days, and today must have been Natunda, the fifth and last day of the week.

'_It feels like it's been years…'_

At that thought, her stomach growled as if it was yelling at her to eat. She hadn't noticed, until then, that her body was producing hunger pangs without ceasing.

Out of habit, she began concentrating on a large piece of cut melon that she had seen in the kitchen. Uriael hadn't been thinking about not being in-tuned with the Force. In fact, she hadn't been thinking about using the Force.

After the piece of ripened fruit found itself in her hand she began to eat it, and the meat was so juicy and the taste was practically irresistible for her to resist finishing it without savoring it.

Suddenly her heart beat rose rapidly and she almost dropped what little was left between her pointer and thumb. It occurred to her, right then, that she had used the Force.

Forgetting about the fruit in her hand, she once more concentrated. This time, she concentrated on the entire tray.

Excitement had sent her body into shivers as she watched, as well as felt, the tray lift up into the air. It traveled over to her and she willed it to rest on her lap.

She started to eat the array of fruits, almost mechanically. Not because she was hungry, but because she was happy. She finished with the thin bread, and sent the tray back into the kitchen.

Uriael then brought herself off of the couch and went to where the evening light had spilled onto the floor.

She took off the brown robe, and folded it untidily. She placed it on the ground with a hint of a smile breaking through her face.

Before sitting herself down, she straightened her body out to calm her nerves and it was much easier this time. The Jedi then crouched down in her boots and folded up her legs into a meditative stance. The cold no longer bothered her.

The little vacuum droids scurried along the carpet, and did well to go around the person who had, for some reason, sat in the middle of the floor.

Uriael's hands met with her knees and she shut her eyes and allowed her mind to go blank. She had centered herself to allow the energies in the air to brush against her.

She began to concentrate on the cool air in the room, the evening light of the sunset, and the movement of J-23 and the other droids.

She could feel the the Force of everything in the room. The darkness that was the Sith who had been there before, and of the tray that she had just manipulated. Her concentration even reached out to the hall where Farkas still stood.

It then took in the whole of the planet. She could feel all of the life and all of the movement of the people that were living there. Her mind was now connected to the living Force. A wave of happiness washed a deep felt expression, and her face beamed calmly.

'_Hello, old friend,' _She wanted to say.

* * *

Maul stepped out of the elevator and entered the hall that contained his living quarters.

It was time for him to meditate. He hadn't taken time to gather himself in a few days and after his failed hunt for any hidden Jedi, he was bothered.

The Sith walked on top of the sand tile while surrounded by walls covered in maroon. The halls seemed brighter, probably because night was drawing near.

There was an eerie feel in the air this time around, though, and it felt strange. Maul couldn't quite place it at first. He swore that he had felt the same thing that day, through the lower levels of Coruscant.

'_That damned Jedi.'_

The recognizable softness of the light side of the Force passed by him and warmed everything in its path.

He knew that after he had taken the force inhibitor off of her that she could regain control. This didn't bother him in the least. He was older, stronger, and had more experience with the dark side than she did with her light. She was only a twenty year old compared to his thirty years of experience.

Farkas stood against a wall opposite of Maul's room, obviously having waited for Maul to come back. He turned and saw the hooded Sith, who took his time to return to his chamber. Immediately, Farkas walked forward to Maul, and bowed down.

"I take the Jedi wasn't a bother," Maul stated, his curiosity limited by his all-knowing.

"She wasn't. But, Lord-"

"What is it?" Maul asked, before thinking about it for a second.

It didn't take him to long to figure it out.

"She knows who I am."

"Yes, Lord Maul," Farkas answered.

'_Interesting,'_ Maul thought to himself, curiously.

He had always wondered whether the Neimoidian separatists of the Trade Federation would confess that they had been allied with a Sith Lord.

Maul didn't take this news with worry. That meant that she would fear him even more, and he considered that an advantage.

"You may leave, Commander," Maul ordered.

Farkas bowed down once again.

"Yes, Lord Maul."

As Farkas walked over to the elevator, Maul remained standing outside of his door.

He could feel her and her link with the Force. How light and fragile it felt, yet how hard its shield around her was. It wasn't as weak as he thought it should have been. She must have been very in-tuned.

He still was not intimidated. No little knight would ever ruffle his nerves, especially someone who was barely a woman.

…

Uriael opened her eyes from her meditation after having felt the alarming sensation from the night before.

She knew that Maul had returned with his dark energy, which was bullying her own Force. But her connection with the Force protected her from its chilling effect.

She got herself up and picked up the folded robe that she had used as her mat. She then put it on and went over to the couch to sit.

Maul felt her movement and pressed his hand onto the screen forcing the door to shoot open. He couldn't help but smirk while making his entrance into the dimly lit room.

The Jedi was sitting on the couch to his right with her back leaning against one of the arms.

"_Glad to see you've covered yourself."_

Uriael shut her eyes with a modest sigh, having heard his remark.

The makeup from the night before was completely washed from her fair face, and he noticed how much younger she appeared.

"No spitting at my name," Maul said, almost humored.

"No," Uriael answered. "There is no need."

"_Master Kenobi spat out as much as your name deserved."_

"All of his cursing failed," Maul replied. "I can sense that the Force is once again under your will."

"Yes," Uriael said.

Maul pulled off his robe and threw it over the chair to his left.

Uriael continued to face away from him. She didn't want to see any more of him, if she could help it.

"Why do you look away from me, Jedi?"

"I don't wish to look at you."

"Ah… I remind you of your Master."

The red color of his skin did indeed remind her of her Master.

She had begun thinking about Shaak Ti, who was in the Jedi Temple the night of the purge. Uriael was never certain whether or not Master Ti made it out alive, but for some reason, she was closer to thinking that her Master may have met with Death.

"You are thinking of your Master over your entire race. That seems uncharacteristically selfish of a Jedi."

"I don't only grieve for my Master, but for countless other people," Uriael answered back. _"I am not selfish."_

"_Why is it that you speak to me with regard to my power over you, but your thoughts as though I am not a threat?"_ Maul spoke to her telepathically.

He moved even closer to the Jedi and in turn felt the vexation within her. His being in her mind, reading it like a script bothered her, tremendously.

"_No more smart comments?"_

Each time he communicated with Uriael, the potency of his words violated almost every nerve-ending within her.

He moved in hands reach and shadowed over her. She kept her eyes away from him, plainly showing her displeasure with how close he was.

Noticing what made her most uncomfortable, he decided to test her limits.

"_It's ok to fear me. I rather like it."_

He leaned over her and placed a hand on the arm that she was leaning on and the other on the back of the couch, and then crouched over her body.

Her face remained blank and she brought her legs closer to her chest, but Maul wouldn't have that. He grabbed each bare knee and pulled them away from her torso, so that her legs stayed underneath him, spread apart.

"_And hating me is even more alluring."_

He then tugged on her knees, once more, and pulled her entire body towards him, so that she was flat on her back, and completely underneath him. She did not react in surprise, but more in unease, as Maul leaned forward to get closer to her face. He had her hands pinned on either side of her head within seconds before she could defensively push against him.

She had looked to her side, with the hope that he would do what he wanted with her quickly. Maybe he would grow bored of her and send her away or maybe he would kill her. She tried not to ponder on the latter of the two.

Maul knew that at that moment he could do whatever he wanted to her. He could rape her, if he had wanted, and do worse to her than Azazul ever had. He could murder her, and be done with the nonsense of this place, and not only make himself feel better, but get back at Azazul in the process.

But none of that mattered right then. What mattered was the fact that she hadn't fought back like a Jedi Knight would to protect their self from harm. Instead, she was completely submissive to what he had done, thus far, which made him feel like he was in total control of her.

"_Why don't you stop me from doing this to you?"_ He asked menacingly while grazing his somewhat sharp teeth against the middle of the right side of her jaw, and then allowed the tip of his tongue to brush against the top of her neck.

She shuddered and bit down on her own tongue, enough to keep from gasping at how disgusted she was, and to keep from allowing her body to react in any way towards his abuse.

"_Heh… I wonder if you might actually be enjoying this attention," _He replied to some goose bumps that he felt on her hairless skin as he lightened his grip on her wrists.

She immediately turned her head, harshly, which made him move away from her neck to face her.

The Jedi then looked up at him with her yellow and gray-colored eyes, but not with fear- with anger. Her mind was filled with so many emotions, and the one that showed was strange. It was as if she wanted to ask him a million questions with the possibility of receiving a decent explanation.

"_Why don't you just do what you want with me?"_

Her eyes shut violently and a scowl formed on her face.

Maul still remained right where he was.

"Why do you not kill me? Or torture me? Or have your way with me?" she glanced down at herself and then back up to him, as if she was pointing out the scene they were in. "Why are you prolonging your wanted acts against me, instead of finishing me off like _he_ does?"

"If there is one thing I hate, Jedi, it's when anyone compares me to someone else-"

He lifted away from the couch with his brows furrowed and his eyes flickered with anger.

"-especially someone like Azazul. If you ever do that again, I will kill you. So horribly that not even your being a Jedi will save you from a forsaken afterlife. There is no need to desecrate something that has already been defiled, you wench."

Maul stormed away from her and walked into his bedroom.

'_How dare she say anything regarding me to that rattataki. I didn't rape her. I won't. Little bitch.'_

Uriael remained confused. She couldn't understand what he wanted with her. Not death, torture, or rape. But… what was he going to do to her?


	9. Help Me I Am In Hell

**(I do not own anything from Star Wars except for the original characters and original concepts shown through this story)**

* * *

**Ch.9: Help Me I am in Hell**

Maul, as well as his Jedi captive, had begun meditating; the Sith in his bedroom and the Jedi in the same room where he had left her. She noticed that Maul hadn't made any movement for over a 24 hour period.

Farkas had brought Uriael's food and clothes in quietly. He seemed to be fearful of upsetting his "Lord Maul."

"Have you knocked him out in his sleep?" Farkas asked the second day, after having handed over a tray of fruit.

"That would be a rather foolish thing to try, Sir Farkas," Uriael answered, carrying in the tray and placing it on a small lamp table near the couch.

"It has been almost two days and he has yet to come out. And why is it that you haven't tried to escape?"

"He's just in meditation. If I tried to escape, he would know."

"Is that something that a Sith Lord does on a regular basis?" Farkas asked out of curiosity.

"It's something that anyone who is linked with the Force does."

"I see," Farkas said, understanding what she was saying. "Do you know what kind of food he would like?"

'_Like I would have the pleasure of knowing something so trivial.'_

"I wouldn't be surprised if he had a preference for meat," she answered with the knowledge that he was a Zabrak.

Farkas then took some time to look at her.

She stood with her hands cupped in one another as he would prepare to leave, which she did almost every time he had entered Maul's quarters. This time, though, her hair was no longer in a tress or in a braid, but was down. Apparently she naturally had wavy hair which went all the way down past her shoulders.

He noticed to his distaste that she had appeared to be even worse off than the day before. Her body looked pale and dramatic dark circles around the bottom of her eyes helped with the effect.

"Are you sick?"

"I haven't been feeling my best. Why, do I look it?"

"Yes. Gravely ill," Farkas grunted. "You should eat something. I may have to give you more food. I don't want either Lord Azazul or Lord Maul giving me a hard time about not being able to use you because of some illness."

"Yes, Sir," she replied, as she had begun to look through the pile of clean clothes that Farkas had brought her.

Farkas shut the door and walked away. He hated treating her like that. He hated that she was stuck with yet another evil that would claim her as his own and subdue his pleasures with the help of her unwilling body.

He couldn't do anything about it now, though. No matter how much he wanted to help her, he had to keep a low profile. So to bring her more food and clothing was the least he could do.

* * *

The tattooed man sat in the center of the navy-colored velvet sheets with his shirt off and his boots set on the floor at the foot of the bed. A look of intensity contorted his face which was already clenched slightly from his shut eyes.

Maul hadn't left the room once for what must have been two days because he needed to be rid of the strange thoughts, dreams, and visions that had been plaguing him. Yet each and every time he had worked on erasing them in their entirety, they came back in heavier doses, and with much more meaning as well as detail.

He began wondering if he was doing something wrong in his training or if he needed to work harder and longer. The training itself couldn't be faulty. There wasn't anything that Sidious had told him that could be a mistake, so it must have been his own weakness that caused these sudden thoughts.

Maul decided to commence with his meditation and relaxed his shut eyelids, while he dismissed all feeling. The Force instinctively gathered around him and brought him into true darkness.

A feeling of frigid air surrounded him. He didn't mind the cold, even though his upper body and feet were bare. He wasn't the type to be picky over things like that; hot or cold, wet or dry, living or dead, it was all the same to him.

Maul listened to the silence that drowned in the seclusion that was his mind. This was the only thing that he would admit was comforting; darkness along with quiet. Everything seemed right. He didn't see anything of his past.

'_The meditation was a success,'_ Maul thought.

"_Running from your past is a success?"_

Maul's senses rose after having heard a voice speak inside of his head, which had never happened to him before whilst he was conscious.

"_Who are you?" _Maul asked in an aggressive tone.

"_Sorry, I did not mean to startle," _The voice replied.

"_How did you get in here?"_ Maul growled.

"_That is none of your concern."_

"_Get out,"_ Maul ordered.

"_Why should I? It's not like you are busy doing anything other than drowning yourself in denial."_

"_Denial?"_ Maul hissed a chuckle. _"I have nothing to be in denial of."_

"_A Sith usually doesn't take to weakness well and it seems you have found such a weakness."_

"_I do not hold onto weakness," _Maul answered flatly.

"_Oh yes, the proud Sith."_ The voice gave off a calm laughter. _"Then why is it that you are trying to rid yourself of your past?"_

"_My past is of no importance to the present."_

"_It seemed to be important enough when you saw what happened to the woman."_

Maul almost opened his eyes at those words. He knew where this voice was attempting to take the conversation.

"_Get out."_

"_Come on, Sith. I know you have been thinking of your mother."_

The Sith became very agitated with this presence, both physically and mentally. He was so close to forgetting about the memory and everything linked with it and this guy had to ruin his almost two days of progress.

"_It's sad when one's mother can cause them such distress. I wonder how bad she could have been to you."_

He remained silent and tried not to break under this man's torment on him, but it was a violation on his privacy. The worst of it all was that he recognized the voice.

"_You are pathetic, Darth Maul."_

He couldn't take any more of this strange torture and resentfully released the control of the Force on his own mind and allowed himself to awake from the trance.

* * *

On the floor in the living room, Uriael was having some trouble of her own when it came to meditation. But rather than voices in her head, it was physical discomfort and pain.

She had started to have horrible cramps that started in her abdomen two days before. The cramps would end and start at an unpredictable moment each time, and the pain had begun spreading to her lower back and rear end.

She had been nauseous for a few weeks and only threw up a few times, but she figured it had to do with the treatment that was inflicted on her.

The Jedi knew of how to heal and reduce pain with the help of the Force, but whatever was happening inside of her was not going away.

She sat on the most recent robe given to her and tried to focus on the energies of Coruscant. The pain hadn't given her any problems for the last half-hour, so she gave it another try.

Everything was beginning to feel alright again. The comforting blanket of the Force sent her into a relaxing state of mind.

...

That was when she saw the many dunes of sand that developed around her in the last dream that she had. Two suns were straight up in the sky, one slightly closer than the other.

'_This place resembles Tattooine.'_

She stared up into the blue sky without noticing the little boy that had walked up behind her. He tugged on her robe and she turned to see him.

"It's you again."

"Uh-huh," the little boy said.

"Why is it that I keep coming back here?" Uriael asked the boy while she kneeled down to level with him.

"I dunno. Maybe you're supposed to come here or something," he said innocently.

"And what would I do here?" She wondered.

She looked around and saw a small underground house with what looked like a moisture vaporator.

"Is that your home?" Uriael asked.

"Yes, Miss."

"People live out here? It seems a bit far away from Mos Eisley, but I've only ever been there once," she commented.

"A lot of people live out here. Most of us are moisture farmers," the little boy said with a bright smile. "We give water to people who need it, or we use it for our crops."

"That's good of you," Uriael acknowledged. "But I don't know why I keep on finding myself here with you."

"I dunno either," he replied.

Just then he looked down. Uriael thought that maybe the same thing would happen again to his eyes as in the last vision.

This time, it hadn't. He was looking down at her, his face full of worry.

"Does it hurt?" he asked sounding troubled.

"Does what hurt?"

"Your belly."

"H-how'd you-" Uriael couldn't understand.

'_Who is this boy?'_

As soon as she had begun to ask, he placed a hand on her lower abdomen and started to shed tears.

"Why are you crying?" she asked him, responding to his touch by placing a hand over his.

"I'm sorry. You have to go back now."

"What do you mean?"

"You have to go back to the pain."

...

Uriael opened her eyes and grabbed a hold of her gut. She held back a moan of pain that wanted out.

She caught herself just before her body reacted in falling over, and kept the weight of her torso up with her palms. But she crumbled to the floor anyway and ended up rolling onto her back to relieve the discomfort.

Her first instinct was to flex every muscle in her lower body, but she couldn't help but claw at the floor. Whatever she did, she didn't want to be loud enough to disturb the man in the bedroom.

After what felt like several minutes the pain stopped, and her eyes shot open and wandered aimlessly at the room around her. She could see that the robe folded on the floor was mere inches away from her face.

'_What's wrong with me?'_

She tried pushing herself to her feet, but it was too hard for her to accomplish. Her muscles screamed for her not to use them anymore.

Instead of walking, Uriael began crawling to the couch.

While slowly moving up a cushion, she used the Force to bring the robe back over to her. It rested on her shoulders, and she put her arms through the sleeves. Even doing something as slight as that hurt.

'_I hope it ends soon.'_

She fought back a moan and began to cuddle and wrap herself within the robe. The black insulated boots had warmed her feet, so she didn't need to pull herself up to strain her body even more.

As soon as she settled in, her body fell into an immediate rest.

* * *

Maul used the Force to open his door and began to walk into the kitchen. The sun was up, so he guessed that it was sometime in the morning.

He calmly traveled over to the water dispenser and grabbed a glass out of the cabinet right above it. He moved it under the pouring water and let it fill to the brim.

Maul swallowed it down impatiently with the want of more, despite the large portion. Yet he still gulped it down like it was nothing but a few drops.

After his fourth glass of the cool refreshing water, he leaned against the counter and set his emptied glass on it.

He held onto a stern look and stared off at nothing in particular.

Soon, the smell of sweet fruit tickled at Maul's painted nose and distracted him from his annoyance from his failed meditation.

He looked to his left, and saw a discarded tray of an assorted selection of citrus, berries, and melons, along with some bread.

He willed the tray over to himself and picked some of the fruits out and disregarded the bread completely. After he was done he could still smell fruit and he looked over by the couch and noticed another tray on one of the side tables.

Maul decided, after eating some more of that tray's fruit, that he would go back to his room to properly meditate. On his way, he quickly glanced down at the Jedi only then noticing her condition.

Her face was worn and she had darkened circles around her eyes. Her fair skin looked tinged with a sickly-beige and shined from a thin layer of sweat. Her lips were lacking of their usual color and were, instead, pasty.

Maul crouched down in front of the couch to better observe her.

He noticed that her right hand was currently being used as a pillow for her head and that her left arm was hanging off of the couch.

The Sith picked up her left hand by its index finger and his eyes found a healing abrasion that encircled her wrist.

'_Chains...'_

He remembered in his vision that Azazul had chained her wrists in an almost impossible position on her back. He thought about how long she had had to wear such a medieval device.

Maul also realized that when he saw her memory that she had not had those markings. They certainly weren't tattoos because the markings weren't exactly perfect, as if Azazul had gotten a bit carried away with a blade.

While comparing the color of the markings to the color of her hair, he wondered what her race was. Yes, she was a near-human, but not a hundred percent. Not with that mix of copper and mulberry hair. He looked at her roots and saw the same color was growing naturally from her scalp.

Then there were those pale yellow-gray eyes. They seemed to almost reflect the light that shown in them nights before, like an animal's would.

The predicament that the Jedi was in was a very strange thing for Maul to comprehend. He didn't really feel sorry for her, not only because she was a Jedi, but because he never really felt sympathy towards anyone.

It did, however, bother him that Azazul was using her in such a way, because he should have killed her rather than keep her as a sex slave.

And the way that she looked when they had last encountered… Did she look like that each time Azazul had walked over to her, preparing himself for his pleasure?

Did his mother look angry and helpless as well?

'_Quit thinking about that, you fool.'_

As he cursed himself for only feeding fuel to the fire that were unwanted memories, a surge of energy drew into him. It relaxed against his chest and he was caressed by an intensely cold sensation.

He released the hand, letting it fall limply onto the side of the couch, which didn't even cause the Jedi to move in her rest.

Something was definitely wrong with her. Her pain was now filling inside of him.

His senses searched over her and found where the cramping and the sharpness in her back had ensued. He could even feel a strain of nausea that caused her to feverishly sweat.

'_Interesting…'_

Just as he had spotted where all of the main points of pain were, he found where the pain had begun. He didn't know what it was, but he sure found out that all of it was caused by something in her abdomen.

At that he remembered what Azazul had said to him. Brief quotes of his during their conversation those few days ago.

"_Would your taste possibly be inclined to a younger, suppler woman?_ _ She still… feels like a virgin."_

Azazul had deceived him and it enraged him to know such a fault.

"_Funny thing is- and I tell you this as a man to a man- she feels better than anyone I have ever had…"_

He could have killed Azazul if he had known of his deception. He had himself a Jedi for three months, without letting Lord Sidious know of it.

Their job was to be rid of the Jedi; to let darkness bring peace to the Empire and the universe.

What he had done to her… For what use would he have for keeping this Jedi in secret? What was she capable of doing for him that he would have to keep her alive and hold her against her will?

'_For the love of Bane...'_

Maul opened Uriael's robe, below her waist, and inspected the area. He had to be sure; he wasn't doing too well with his own abilities, so he may have been mistaken.

The white fabric of a new tunic was pulled away, exposing her small and toned stomach. Each time she inhaled, her small muscles would tense and then relax. But there was a certain area that started right above her naval and continued on down that was only slightly raised.

He went to rest his hand on her but was hesitant.

'_I shouldn't be doing this. She could die here for all I care.'_

"_Are you afraid to touch her?"_

It was the voice again, and this time he would not stray away from the challenge it presented. He pushed himself into laying his hand on her lower-abdomen.

As soon as his touch met with her abdomen he could feel it. He knew that his prediction was indeed correct.

'_He wanted her to carry his child.'_

Of course he did. Azazul as arrogant as he was would want to pass on his "legacy".

Surprisingly, she had actually gotten pregnant. Considering the fact that she and Azazul were two completely different species, Maul's interest began to heighten over the woman.

What he didn't understand was what was happening to her now.

His hand remained on her to feel for its life force, but there wasn't any.

'_Shit…'_

The Jedi must have been losing the fetus.

Maul hissed a troubled sigh and closed his eyes. His hand remained on her clammy skin, moving up and down along with her breathing.

He didn't know what action to take in regard of this. What was he to do with her?

At that moment, Uriael's breathing rose in volume. The sharp pain had once again met with her abdomen, which caused her to awaken.

She then brought her hands to her as if she was trying to attack the pain. Instead, she had unknowingly jabbed her fingers at Maul's hand.

Maul knew that something like that would happen. He did not try to move his hand, even after her eyes opened.

She couldn't see much but really felt the pain. It hit her mercilessly and persisted from her stomach down to her crotch.

Her body tried to force her to cry out but she held it back and, once again, pushed against the pain with every muscle that would let her. The tears could not be controlled, however.

She tried lifting her upper body, but she could feel a strong hand currently pressed down on her lower-abdomen. She flinched and remembered who else had been in the room with her.

"What are you doing?" she asked shakily through the tears.

"Do you know what is happening to you?" he questioned, noticing her face had turned red.

"No," she choked out.

Her hands met with the one resting on her and grabbed it, as if trying to get it off of her.

He dismissed her touch.

"Are you doing this to me?"

"No," he answered.

Uriael bit down on her bottom lip to try and hold back more tears. She did not want to show him how much she was hurting. She didn't want him seeing her so vulnerable.

The sweat continued to bead up on her face. Her lip trembled under the pressure from her teeth and she couldn't keep it up anymore.

"Get off of me-"

Her eyebrows cringed in distress, and her body heaved upward, which caused her head to meet with his shoulder.

Normally, she would have pushed away from him. They _were_ mortal enemies by nature. This time however, she didn't care about her being a Jedi or him being a Sith.

She had felt so alone. Anyone would do for comforting. She would have taken Volutta at this point. Another person was good enough for her.

She was a bit surprised, though, that he had not shaken her off.

Maul could feel just how lonely she was. It mixed in well with the essence of her physical suffering.

He withdrew his hand away from her belly and fixed it onto her back. In turn he slid his other hand under her legs. Her head still rested against his left shoulder.

Maul lifted her up, and headed towards the bathroom, not bothering with being gentle and slow about it.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked in a shivering voice.

"The shower…"

The lights turned on and nearly blinded Uriael. She squinted and saw the tattooed figure leaning down over her.

He placed her on the tile and she continued to shiver even while Maul was taking off her robe.

His eyes made it to her face to see how truly horrible she looked. Her lips were a pale brown color, and almost matched with the lack of pigment in her face. Her hairline was covered in oil from her fever as were the beginnings of her violet roots.

He knew that it was going to happen soon. He could feel the amount of pain that she was in and how the intervals between the cramps had gotten much shorter in length.

Maul knew that she wasn't going to like the next part, but he didn't care. He started taking off her boots with the Force, while he began pulling down her shorts and underwear all at once.

Uriael's eyes opened wildly, and a blanket of despair tightened around her and she reacted to the feeling that she knew all too well.

He immediately grabbed hold of both of her wrists, which were headed towards his face, and unknowingly pushed a scab on her right wrist off of the healing, raw skin underneath it.

She winced in pain as his thumb seemingly dug into a now open wound on her wrist.

"_Stop… please don't do this…not now…"_

A soft, pleading voice entered into his mind. He eyed her with seriousness.

"_I don't plan __on taking you," _he answered nonchalantly.

"_Then why are you undressing me?" _she asked by lack of trust.

He sensed that it wasn't necessarily a lack of trust in him alone.

"_I am putting you in the shower, not your clothes."_

"_Why?"_

"_I don't want the smell of blood in my room, especially your-"_

"_Blood…," _she repeated. _"What are you talking about?"_

Maul paused and stared into her eyes.

Each was laced with a color and physical out line of polished metal, with a small ring of a soft-yellow around each black pupil. He could see the reflection of the tattoos on his skin. They were filled with both the colors on his skin and her own discomfort.

"_You are having a miscarriage," _he explained, showing no affection by his own words, even though it felt completely unreal to say to a Jedi.

A confused expression now defined each corner of her face. She looked to the side and shook her head.

"No. I'm just sick. You have to be pregnant in order to-"

"Azazul impregnated you."

"You… you're wron-"

"You know it's a fact."

"I…."

She stopped herself before she could really consider the thought that she had been pregnant with Azazul's seed.

"Ok…"

That was all that she could say. If she said anything more or thought about it even more deeply, she would become even more emotional. And with all of the emotions running and dancing through her mind right then, she had become devastated within seconds.

Maul accepted her agreement and pulled off her shorts. He then lifted her upper body from the ground and roughly untied the wrap on her tunic.

She lifted her arms which allowed him to pull it off over her head, and pull it he did, which hurt her neck in the process.

He picked her up and she winced from the cramping and at the sharp pains in her back, neck, and abdomen.

He blocked the sensors of the entrance to the shower, so it wouldn't start while he was in there.

After sitting her down against the shower wall, he lifted up the drain's screen and stepped out to unblock the sensors, so that the warm water poured onto her stressed body.

She watched the peach tile, while patiently waiting for something to happen, even though she was extremely anxious. She didn't know what it would look like. If there would be blood, maybe tissue, maybe even the whole body of a fetus…

'_Stop it,' _she thought to herself.

She could feel that her throat and the inside of her nose had begun to grow tight and that her eyes began to sting.

Maul leaned forward over the sink, looking down into the faucet. All of this was an interesting experience, to say the least.

He picked up her clothes from a pile he had made and folded them up with his will, to give himself something to do.

'_I get up from my failed solitude and am confronted with this irony.'_

Uriael remained in the shower and stared at the opposite wall while the cramps continued and her nausea acted up again. She was distant from the physical world she was in as well as the pain, which left her with the worst sadness possible. The feeling was one that she never wanted to feel ever again.

She tried to convince herself that this wasn't a bad thing. It wasn't like she wanted to carry Azazul's child in the first place. Besides, it was most likely his fault that it died; he had been so ruthless with her those months.

Even if she hadn't wanted it, though, the fact that she hadn't been strong enough to carry and sustain the life of something so innocent was awful enough.

At that, she began to think about this thing that hadn't had the chance at life. She kept it in her thoughts, in fear that Maul was still in there with her.

Maul stood, wondering when it was going to be over. Steam began to rise from the floor, fogging the mirror that was above him.

He decided to look into her mind to see what she was thinking, if anything at the moment. At first, all he could hear was murmuring, but then he could hear it as a whisper.

'_Please forgive me for not being strong enough to carry you…to bring you into this world. If I had known that you were even there, I would have done better to care for myself. But you will know what it is like to be in paradise- to be a part of something that is much more meaningful than the situation I'm in…'_

She paused because of a sharp and quick pain that had attacked her abdomen, and traveled down to her crotch. Maul could almost see as both of her hands gently placed themselves on her abdomen, as a mother would in a tender fashion when talking to their unborn child, as many expecting women would.

'_If you were born, he probably would have taken you away from me. You would have been treated better, I suppose, but most likely, you would have grown up with hate in your heart. You would have grown up with a monster, rather than someone who actually cared for you, as I would have. But like I said, you will now only know peace and remain innocent as you join in on the same thing that I have defended for years.'_

'_That fool- why does she give a damn about the thing?' _Maul asked himself, insulting what she had been thinking. _'She didn't ask for it and didn't even want it-'_

His muse was interrupted by the sound of soft and fearful whimpering from the Jedi. He knew that it had begun. The familiar incense of blood emanated in the room.

...

After an hour or two, he walked back into the shower to look in on the Jedi. She had fallen asleep against the corner nearest to where he placed her. She was almost completely drained of her natural color, which made sense because of the loss of blood.

Maul had blocked the sensors once again and his presence alone was enough to wake her up, and startle her enough to where she sat upright and covered her naked body from him.

"Get dressed," he ordered, and then left her in the bathroom.

Uriael blocked the sensors herself and stood up, slowly, and then stepped lightly into the middle of the bathroom, exhausted and dizzy.

The same droids came out from their storage place; one to clean up the water that she once again let drip on the tile along with a little bit of left over blood, and one to rid the room of the humidity that had shaded over the glass of the mirror.

"Hello again, Ma'am. Would you like a towel?" the same silver droid in the shape of a trashcan asked in a monotone voice.

Uriael began to cry with a fake smile brought to her face.

"Yes, J-23, I would like that very much. And, maybe some disposable towelettes if you have any?"

"Yes ma'am. Would you like the towel or the towelettes first?"

"The towelettes first please."

…

Maul stepped back in when he knew that she had wrapped the towel around herself.

She gave another false smile to the droids as they scurried back into their place of refuge and then peered up at him.

"Are you not going to put your clothes on?"

Uriael looked down and grinned out of disbelief towards how uncaring this man was, but was not surprised.

"They're dirty," she explained, pitifully.

"And what do you want me to do about that?" Maul asked sarcastically. "Find you something to wear?"

"No," she answered, once again having to deal with his mean sarcasm.

"Then put on your damn robe," he ordered in an aggravated tone.

"Ok," she replied, while her cheeks grew warm from how frustrated she continued to be with her situation.

She then walked over to the right to retrieve the robe from the stack of clothes that Maul had folded. Before doing anything else, she turned back at him to see if he was even going to give her privacy, and it didn't surprise her that he gave her a cocked brow as an answer.

Maul watched as she pulled the robe over herself and the towel that was still wrapped around her. He grinned at the fact that she was uncomfortable with allowing herself to be nude in front of him, even after he had seen her naked a few times already.

Uriael handed the towel over to the droid who had given it to her in the first place, and tied the robe around herself, not completely comfortable with how she was no longer supported.

She then walked up to Maul, who was between her and the exit, and decided to wait for him to tell her to leave the bathroom, and then to go lay down, since most of what he said to her was an order.

Instead, Maul turned away from her and stepped out of the bathroom, but not before giving her an indifferent glare for her trying to mock him through thought. She followed behind him after a few seconds.

Uriael wandered aimlessly out of the bathroom and somehow made it down the steps and over to the couch. She dropped and cuddled herself onto the cushions and rested her head on the right arm of the couch, and closed her eyes forcefully as her legs withdrew close to her chest in order to keep warm.

Maul, out of the corner of his right eye, watched her fall to sleep, as a hushed beeping from his wrist link commenced. He willed it over and after reading HK-48's message about how Lord Sidious had requested for his presence, he collected a tunic, his robe, and his boots into his grasp, got dressed, and left the room quietly.


	10. The Frail

**(I do not own anything from Star Wars except for the original characters and original concepts shown through this story)**

* * *

**Ch.10: The Frail**

"Lord Maul- I hope that you are well rested," Farkas commented to the already rushed Sith.

"I need to be to my ship now," Maul answered back, ignoring the bothan's greeting.

The Sith pulled his left sleeve over his glove and wrist link before he turned back to Farkas.

"Commander, call for some handmaidens to tend to the Jedi."

"Handmaidens, my Lord?" Farkas questioned, confused as to why he would want to have the Jedi given such attention.

"Just do as I say, Commander," Maul calmly replied.

"Yes, Lord Maul," Farkas answered without hesitation.

He then pulled out a communicator device and pressed in three keys.

"Do you need me to watch over her again, Lord Maul?"

"Do what you will. She is too sick to try anything stupid," Maul claimed.

'_That bad, huh?'_ Farkas thought to himself, while playing with his soft-brown colored beard.

Just then, the elevator door opened, revealing two female twi'leks dressed in tan robes. Both of them were rutian, but one was teal and the other, who was also much younger, was aquamarine in color.

"Ah yes- your handmaidens," Farkas commented gruffly.

The two of them walked up to both Farkas and Maul. The shorter one kept her head down the whole time, taking only short glances up at both men, out of curiosity, while the taller one bowed down showing respect.

Maul recognized the seemingly older of the two as the one he had seen with Tanran a few days earlier. Wasn't this his mistress? Was she also a handmaiden?

Before he had time to really care about either one of those questions he tilted his head to Farkas and hurried over to the elevator.

"You requested for us, Sir?" she asked with an accent.

"Yes, Imara," Farkas replied. "Lord Maul wishes for you to look at the woman in his room-"

"Do you mean the Jedi?"

Both Farkas and the eldest twi'lek turned around to the younger girl.

"You should not speak when not spoken to, Safi," Imara scorned. "And do well not to mention that she is a Jedi with Lord Maul around."

"That is quite alright," Farkas said unemotionally. "Yes, apparently she is sick. I do not know with what- Lord Maul didn't give many details."

"We shall do our best," Imara assured. "Isn't that right, Safi?"

"Yes- we will find out why she is ill," the young twi'lek reassured both Farkas and her mentor.

"Don't get sick, yourselves," Farkas stated.

Safi went on ahead of the two of them, while Imara remained standing in front of Farkas. He looked at her with worry.

"Is there anything wrong?"

"I am sorry for bringing her along, but I am worried about her safety. She is so naïve and I know that sometimes she can be trouble-"

"Imara," Farkas interrupted, "What's troubling you?"

"Lord Tanran-" she paused out of discomfort, "-has been eyeing her to my distaste."

"I see," Farkas thought out loud. "Then I will stay with you. I wouldn't mind knowing what the Jedi is sick with anyway."

* * *

Maul made it to the tunnel leading to the hanger and to his displeasure, someone was standing at the end, laughing amongst two others. He wanted to spit at the sound of Volutta's cackling.

Once again, her outfit was immodest but he did have to admit to himself that it was the cleanest attire he had seen her in so far, which wasn't saying much because this was the third time. She was wearing a sleeveless, crimson-colored bodysuit, which was only supported by lace over her chest, and she obviously liked stiletto healed-shoes.

Standing with her were two very unfamiliar characters.

One was a tan man with long-white hair and equally white-colored eyes. Maul figured that he must have been an Arkanian because of the four-clawed fingers on each of his hands. He also had a black cape attached to the back of brown buttoned- up shirt with pants and shoes that matched.

This man also held a hold of the darkside as well as a lightsaber attached to a black belt, which got Maul wondering as to the number of dark Jedi that lingered around the building.

The second man was the most bizarre and most grotesque being that Maul had ever seen. His face was pale and he had one blue eye and the right was black with a strange white pupil. His head was completely bald, like his own, and he had a sloping forehead that fell between two pointed ears. One of the most disgusting features was the fact that his nose was missing; all that was there were two openings as if it had been cut clean off.

This man did not have a lightsaber but did have an almost serpent-like whip connected to a strange suit of armor that covered this creature's entire body, save his face. There was something about this man that concerned Maul, but he couldn't touch on what it could be.

"Why, good afternoon Lord Maul," Volutta slyly announced.

Maul sighed and did his best to walk past the group.

"Lord Maul- you would do well to meet these two gentlemen."

'_You would do well to shut that dirty mouth of yours,'_ Maul thought to himself.

He stepped on one heal and turned, glaring at them all.

"This here is Setan. He is a guest here who also happens to be a scientist of sorts."

She pointed towards the vile unknown creature, who only stared blankly yet curiously back at the Sith.

"And this is Lord Azazul's right hand man, to say the least- Rokujou," she expressed cooly. "As you can probably tell, he also wields the Force."

"Just like Tanran?" Maul smugly asked.

"That fool wouldn't know what to do with a light saber, even if he had four arms like Grievous," Rokujou replied.

His voice was cold and full of arrogance.

"I take that you killed the Jedi that belonged to?" Maul questioned.

"Yes, I did."

"Better than picking it up after a battle, I suppose," Maul answered back.

He roughly turned and hastily made his way down the steps. At that, a strange feeling of being stared at came to his senses.

'_What a whore.'_

Volutta was staring after him, watching his every turn and every twist of his hooded robe, blatantly checking him out.

He opened Scimitar's ramp with his force and commanded HK-48 over to him.

The noon's sun reflected off of his black polished metal skin, as he stepped down the ramp, rifle in hand.

"Your orders, Sir?"

"Stay out here and make sure that no one tries to bother me while I give audience," Maul ordered the droid.

"Yes, Sir," HK-48 obediently responded. He walked down on to the landing path, readying his weapon, while watching the only other sentient beings within the hanger.

Maul continued into the infiltrator, guided only by the deep, red light that illuminated the inside. It seemed smaller because of how dark he kept it. The sound of his boots echoed through the walkway leading to the control room.

He entered the room and walked up to the control panel, already curious as to what Lord Sidious wanted with him.

'_Get me away from here.'_

Being on Coruscant was draining him, especially the whole ordeal with the Jedi. He would take just about any kind of mission at this point. Not that it was his choice in the matter, anyway.

He found the message button and eagerly pushed down on it. As soon as he did, Maul turned around and got on one knee, keeping the hood on out of respect.

The blue hologram of a hooded man, older in age, appeared before Maul. He was sitting down in a thrown-like chair, with white frigid fingers folded over the ends of the chair's black arms.

An almost humbled look fixed the only visible part of his face, which had been disfigured after his fight with Mace Windu.

"Rise, Darth Maul," the dark voice beckoned his once Apprentice.

"Yes, my Lord."

Maul did as his Lord wished, and stood up hereupon to his words. His eyes burned wildly from under his hood, intensely waiting for his orders.

"I hope that your stay on Coruscant has been productive."

"It has, my Lord."

"Have you made progress that Azazul seems to have not been able?"

"I have found no Jedi that are alive, my Lord. I have only found the remains of the Jedi, Mace Windu. It seems that the Force still emanates around him."

"Yes- Mace Windu," Sidious paused, contemplating the death that he dealt the Master. "That would explain the energy that I could feel. There was no one else?"

Maul thought about telling Sidious of the Jedi, currently in his room. What would he care if she were to be killed? She was the enemy.

"Not another Jedi, my Lord."

For the first time in his life, he had lied to Sidious. Why? He didn't even understand.

"Very well then," Sidious accepted. "That is not the only reason that I have summoned you. I have a small mission to give, if you are willing to accept-"

"I am yours to command."

"Of course," Sidious replied with a hint of a menacing grin. "You know of the system, Alderaan."

"Yes."

"And I am sure that you know of its Viceroy, Bail Organa."

"I have heard of him," Maul answered, not letting his voice rise from his curiosity.

* * *

"Wow, Imara. This room is monstrous!" Safi exclaimed, as she wandered around the dark room.

"Pipe it, Safi," Imara hushed. "The Jedi is asleep."

"Oh," Safi brought a hand over her mouth.

"She should be," Farkas answered, while moving his large fingers over a light controller next to the entrance of the room.

"There we are," Farkas commented.

"It's awfully cold in here," Safi complained.

"Oh goodness," Imara announced after having seen the Jedi curled up on the couch.

Farkas turned and thought the same thing.

The restless Uriael was dripping with a feverish sweat, which had condensed on her forehead and underneath her eyes, adding on to the darkened circles. Her already shut eyes tried to close even farther, after having heard the sounds of voices around her.

"Imara, what's wrong with her?" Safi asked, pulling on the sleeve of her tan robe.

"I can't say," Imara replied, wondering herself.

"She looks like she is in so much pain…"

"Yes, she does," Imara replied in agreement.

Safi released the older woman, who was drawing closer to the sickly Jedi. Farkas stood near the door.

Imara looked over the young woman, who was withdrawn like an abused child.

"Have you seen her before this, Sir? Have you seen her like this?" Imara questioned.

"I saw her up and walking around, just last night. She looked tired, but she wasn't like this."

"Then let's wake her up," Imara stated. "Do you know her name?"

"Her name is Uriael," answered the bothan, whose gold eyes were straight on the Jedi, and whose nose had only just caught the scent of something that troubled him.

"Ok then. Uriael- can you please get up for me?" Imara tried to get her to come out of her rest. "Uriael?"

"I'm cold," whispered Uriael, squinting from her exhaustion.

"I know," Imara answered, as her hand felt the Jedi's moist forehead. "Do you know why you are sick?"

"I'm not sick," Uriael replied hoarsely.

"Don't be foolish, girl," Farkas interrupted. "You are obviously sick."

"Let her be, Farkas," Imara suggested without following rank. "Uriael- did you eat something that may have been hard for you to take down? Maybe you caught a cold?"

"It isn't a cold," Uriael said, wandering through her own thoughts.

Safi looked on, worried, while Imara continued investigating.

"Uriael, you couldn't have just gotten this from out of nowhere."

"I know."

"Uriael, please tell me- how is it that you are like this without being sick?" challenged Imara.

"I wish not to say," Uriael contested with lack of interest.

"We are trying to help you, Jedi. Lord Maul wanted us to. So you had better tell us what is wrong with you-"

"Lord Maul?" Uriael queried to Farkas.

'_Why won't he leave me alone?'_

"Yes- he wants us to tend to you."

"Uriael- please, let me help you," pleaded Imara.

"Who are you?" Uriael responded to Imara's voice.

"I am just a handmaiden-"

"Your name?" Uriael interrupted.

"Imara."

She opened her eyes to fully take in everything around her. She mostly only saw the blue face of the woman speaking with her.

"Now, can you explain to me what you are feeling?"

"Weak," Uriael said softly.

Her already fair face became even paler. Her lips had hardly any pigment left in them.

"As in you can't walk, operate your muscles- maybe you've been throwing up?"

"I _am_ weak."

Imara and Safi both looked at one another, trying to understand what she was trying to say. Farkas didn't even seem to notice.

"Of course you're weak- you're sick, after all," Imara spoke with kindness.

"I can't even carry myself…"

"Uriael-"

"…let alone a child."

Imara stared intently at Uriael, whose eyes began to glisten with tears. The first sign of life in her, and it had to be that.

Safi looked confused, while Farkas's eyes grew wide from worry- it seemed as though the reason as to why he smelled blood had been found.

Farkas and Imara both knew what she was saying.

"Safi- go get me some towels and a blanket," Imara requested. "And some bath crystals while you're at it."

"My lady-"

"Just do as I say."

"Go on ahead, Safi. You'll be fine," Farkas reassured.

"Yes, Sir."

Safi ran out the door, with Farkas watching her prance down the hall.

"Farkas, could you help me?"

"Yes, Imara," Farkas answered.

"We're going to give her a nice, warm bath."

"I am not sure. Won't Lord Maul be-"

"He did ask for us to tend to her, right?" Imara argued.

"Yes, but-"

"So then maybe he won't mind if we do this, or use his bathroom."

"I guess so," Farkas grunted, with the knowledge that Maul was aware of the fact that she was a Jedi. "I'll lay the blame on you if he is bothered by it."

"That is fine by me," Imara answered back, rather optimistic. "Uriael- Commander Farkas is going to pick you up now, ok?"

"Ok," Uriael answered blankly.

Imara took her light blue finger and wiped away some of the tears away from Uriael's face.

"It's ok. This isn't your fault."

Uriael glanced back over to Imara and saw a look of empathy. She was almost unable to believe it.

The burly Farkas traveled over beside Imara and shadowed over Uriael in his large form.

"Shall we go now?" Farkas asked Imara.

"Whenever you're ready, Sir."

Farkas understood and bent over, scooping Uriael's small shaking body into one arm.

She winced in pain from his accidentally-hard touch.

"Are you sore, Uriael?" Farkas asked quietly, even more so when saying her name.

"Yes, Sir," she told him.

Farkas's fur was good to Uriael and warmed her cold and shivering body.

Farkas followed Imara into the bathroom where the lights turned on from her presence, neither of them surprised.

Imara looked to the right of the shower and found the awfully large bath tub, and while she was busy with turning the water on hot and testing it against her hand, Farkas could tell that the smell of blood was much stronger in the bathroom. He stared painfully down at the woman in his grasp.

She was a Jedi. A prided warrior and peacekeeper to the Galactic Republic, and one who notably sought enlightenment and wisdom above power and gain.

But that was not what he saw before him. Now she was a pathetic sight; ruined, desecrated, beaten.

Seeing her look so helpless infuriated him, immensely.

How he hated Azazul- the Sith and darkside in general. Maul may have been giving her better attention than she had gotten, but he was still using her and holding her prisoner.

'_Relax. They all will get theirs. The fall of the Empire will begin soon.'_


	11. Even Deeper

**(I do not own anything from Star Wars except for the original characters and original concepts shown through this story)**

* * *

**Ch.11: Even Deeper**

"HK-48, we're leaving for Alderaan tomorrow," Maul informed his assassin droid. "Go find the coordinates of the system and input them into the navigator."

"Yes, Lord Maul," HK-48 obliged, following the ramp up into the infiltrator.

With his stance shoulder-length apart, Maul steadily walked back to the inside of the building. His hood still cast a shadow over his tattooed face which hid the excitement that he had for this new mission.

'_Find and kill chairman Organa. Make it look like an insider job. Let there be no tell of tale. Easy.'_

It wasn't necessarily the mission that excited him, but the fact that he had a reason to leave Coruscant.

"I see that you are finally finished with your business."

The sound of Volutta's sultry voice hit Maul's ears like a stick.

He shut his eyes and cocked a brow. She was the only one in the hanger with him.

"I'm going back to my room," Maul answered most calmly.

"Why leave so soon?" Volutta asked, almost pleadingly.

"That is not your concern."

"So mean," Volutta boldly commented. "I guess that I have no choice but to let you go."

"Let me go?" Maul asked brutishly. "How humorous…"

"Such a _hot_ temper," Volutta said, letting the word "hot" slip off of her tongue like silk.

"You should stop," Maul threatened. "I am not Azazul-"

"No, you aren't," Volutta interrupted. "I find you to be more intriguing."

The woman started moving closer, parading down the steps with her hair hanging to one side. She glanced back over to him flirtatiously. Her deep-green eyes dug deep into Maul.

"I always find you Sith to be fairly interesting characters."

"I am the first Sith that you've met," Maul said exactly. "Not like the others."

"Whatever they are, they sure are talented in-"

She walked even closer nibbling down on her bottom lip.

"-many ways."

"So you have been with Azazul, Rokujou, and Tanran?" Maul asked, making sure that she would take notice of what he was trying to imply.

"I have my loyalties to Azazul. The other two are mere tools for his use. I'm more interested in men with authority and power."

She stepped over to the Sith with the want to be closer.

Maul let her come as close as she wanted. He had been used to certain women trying to intimidate him in ways such as seduction, and they either failed or were killed before they had the chance. He even let one touch his lightsaber before he decapitated her.

"I wonder, Lord Maul… do these-?"

Volutta reached out and stroked a tattoo that started out as a tear and then angled back to his nose.

"-cover your entire body?"

He looked at her plainly with his infamous emotionless gaze. She continued tracing over where red met with black, but her touch meant nothing and didn't do anything for Maul.

"It must have hurt."

Volutta continued down to his upper lip, sliding her fingers over his skin. She then let her emerald eyes travel over his chest and even further.

"It must have really hurt if they cover your _entire_ body."

Maul had a memory that came to mind of a Twi'lek that was a bodyguard for Vigo Darnada, one of the many syndicates of Black Sun. She had said similar things to him, but she wasn't after his attention. She only wanted to make him uncomfortable to test his resolve. It was an unsuccessful attempt on her part.

"When the last woman who commented on such things touched me-"

Maul brushed her fingers away from his face, letting the hatred that filled his own eyes dominate over her glare.

"-I cut off her head."

Volutta cocked an emerald eyebrow and smirked at the fact that he was trying to scare her off.

"Oh but Maul, you wouldn't want to waste my head. You see-"

She drew even closer and pushed her weight onto him as she let her lips graze his right ear.

"-my _head_ can do things for you that not even the whore in your room can fulfill."

"There are many things that I am sure you are very "talented" in, but _she _can do more for me than you," Maul answered flatly.

"I find that hard to believe," Volutta retorted while slightly pulling away, trying not to sound insulted.

"How so?" he asked, wanting to hear her answer.

Volutta rushed back over to him with her lips pursed and her chest pushed out, to press into him once again, and even went as far as to place one of her fuschia fingers under his hood, on the tip of the horn directly above his left ear. She then allowed it to slide down to the skin around the base of the prick and encircled it delicately.

She had leaned over to where her blue-stained lips nearly touched his right ear and answered, "I am more experienced, my body is much more enticing, and it can withstand whatever pain, whatever position, whatever length, and whatever amount of force that you want to pound into it."

She finished with her reasoning by letting her stray finger travel down to his ear, to play with the silver stud that was pierced into the upper curvature.

"Experience, as is shown through you, is not always appealing," Maul finally responded, while using the Force to shove her away from him.

She almost fell down from how hard he pushed and she stared at him, flabbergasted by his reaction, or lack of, to all that she had done and said.

"Now I'm going to have some more fun with my young and succulent companion."

He brushed past Volutta, leaving her with the thought of him taking the other woman in a way that she wished he would take her. He could feel the jealousy coursing through her nerves, her veins, and especially her mind. He heavily enjoyed it.

* * *

"How are you holding up, Uriael?" Imara questioned the Jedi, while massaging her shoulders.

Uriael couldn't believe all of this attention. At first, she was skeptical about having someone touch her while she was in the nude. After she came to from her dazed waking, though, she accepted the offer that Imara had given.

Uriael covered her chest by pressing it against the end opposite of where the faucet still poured with water. Her hair was pulled over her right shoulder, so Imara could see where she massaged.

Imara had gotten the knots out of several places down the lining of her spine and all the way back up to her aching shoulders.

The bath was also quite lovely. It smelled wonderful, was filled with soft bubbles and the water was smoldering warm, which was perfect for all of her pains.

"I feel great," she replied softly, feeling a bit spoiled with all of the treatment given.

"She gives good massages," Safi commented, trotting into the bathroom with a container full of light-blue bath crystals that made the room smell so sweet.

She opened it up so she could smell the blooming aroma. Her two lekku shook from the scent that tickled her senses.

"Would you like more crystals?" Imara offered as she continued to give Uriael her full attention.

"You really shouldn't do all of this for me," Uriael complained for their benefit.

"Here, have some more!" Safi replied and poured the whole container into the tub.

The crystals quickly disintegrated with the contact of the hot water, turning into suds that once again filled the room with their scent.

Safi glanced down at Uriael and gave her a bright smile, which concealed her utmost interest in the woman.

Uriael looked at Safi, who she figured was probably nine or ten years old. She had a light tan head band that covered all of her scalp, only having the two holes for her lekku. She had beautiful blue eyes and was a pretty girl. She acted spunky, but Uriael felt as if there was more to her than appearance showed.

The young twi'lek rolled the sleeves on her tan robe up to her elbows, as if irritated by how long they were.

"Should I get some more?" she asked with wide opened eyes.

"I don't think there's any more left, Safi," Imara thought out loud.

"That's ok- I'll just take some of Volutta's."

She ran out of the bathroom once again with a large smile.

"That's Lady Volutta to you!" Imara yelled out, warning the youngling about showing such lack of respect to those that were higher above her.

She looked back down to Uriael's fair back.

"Please excuse the youngling. She is quite the pain."

"That's alright," Uriael explained, while still eyeing the area that the girl had exited from. "How old is she?"

"10 years old."

Uriael turned and watched from the corner of her right eye as Imara intently made circular motions with her fingers down her back.

Imara was strikingly beautiful and her green eyes were calmer and more defined from maturity. She also had a head cap, except hers was a dark shade of jade.

"So, it is strange that Lord Maul is interested in your welfare, isn't it?"

This question caught Uriael a bit off guard, but she knew that something like this would come up.

"I mean he is a Sith, and I've heard that he has killed hundreds of people. Doesn't that bother you?"

"I try not to think about things like that. Right now, I'm only keeping my mind on this massage," Uriael softly mentioned, with a hint of a smile, albeit a fake one.

'_As long as Azazul is gone, I could care less about the future for the time being.'_

"Has he…"

Imara paused for a second, not knowing how to ask what she wanted to, as if she was afraid to cross a line.

"Has he used you?"

Uriael moved her silver and yellow eyes back to the empty space in front of her and shifted her chin farther into her arms. She thought about whether she should say yes or no. In the end, she didn't really feel like lying.

"Not really…"

"Not really?"

"Well… he started to," Uriael paused, thinking back on the fact that he had not finished what he started, "but he stopped."

Imara lifted her eyes off of Uriael's back and her massaging went from concise to a bit random.

"Really?" she asked, perplexed.

The woman nodded her head to answer the question and was still surprised by the answer she was able to give, considering Maul did know that she was a Jedi.

"Wow," Imara said with a baffled voice. "Well, you can't expect all men to be into that sort of thing."

"Could you do me the favor of not mentioning that to anyone else?"

"Of course," Imara promised.

She understood why the Jedi wouldn't want anyone else in that building to know of that, for they might try to sneak her out to make up for Maul's lack of brutality.

Uriael turned her body, covering everything below her shoulder line beneath the suds. Imara was a bit startled by this action.

"How old are you, Lady Imara?"

"Please don't call me Lady. I am a slave, just like you."

"Ok- Imara. How old are you?"

"I'm 28. Yourself?"

"20."

"You're 20?" Imara asked loudly. "You look much older…"

"Well, I was taught that human females stop maturing at 21," Uriael reassured. "I turn 21 at the end of the year."

"You're only 20..."

To Imara, it made Uriael's situation all the more depressing. She, herself, may have been a slave, but to a point.

She wasn't locked up and thrown into random individual's rooms like Uriael had been. If that had happened to her, she would have ended her own life.

The fact that Uriael had lost a baby hardly even a day ago made Imara feel for her.

Her eyes began drifting down to her scars. How sad to have a sign of whom she was enslaved to and to show that she was someone else's property.

"By the way, Uriael- you might bleed some more."

"More?" Uriael asked innocently, hiding the fact that she had already known this.

"It might take a few days for your body to detoxify. Don't worry. You will feel better soon," Imara whispered reassuringly.

"Weren't those your clothes?" Uriael started. "I'm so sorry for-"

"I gave those clothes to Farkas because I didn't need them. They are much too big for the little one, so he got them off my hands," Imara stopped Uriael from apologizing.

"It's ok. It isn't your fault, really. I already set out some new clothes for you up on the counter- and I think they'll match more properly than when Farkas chose them last."

Uriael was glad to have met this twi'lek woman.

"Do you want something to wrap around your wrist?"

Uriael lifted her right hand from the water and eyed the raw area of flesh on her wrist, just beneath her thumb, that had been having a difficult time with healing, thanks to her most present captor.

"I was going to ask J-23 for some gauze, so don't worry about it."

"Imara-"

Farkas knocked on the door as to not intrude in anything.

"I think that it is best if we go now."

"You are probably right. Let's see if we can stop Safi on her way back."

"Thank you for everything," Uriael sighed.

"Don't mention it. I hope that Lord Maul will request me to come by here more often."

Imara left out of the bathroom with a respectful smile.

Uriael then lay back in the tub and allowed the hair below her shoulders to immerse into the sudsy water.

The smell of the water was so familiar. It had a floral and sweet scent that was able to calm and relax her.

A memory came to mind, from when she was a young child. A similar scent came from a purple flower that grew in the meadows on her home planet.

…

She remembered picking the flowers for her mother, who loved them. She especially loved giving them as a gift to her for her birthday.

Her mother told her that the flower's name was…

'_Lavender…'_

She remembered seeing the moon that night. It had gotten dark and she was already late getting home.

It was then that it happened. The sounds of screaming filled her ears, almost making her stumble to the grass covered ground. She didn't pay it any mind though, for she had always had issues with hearing such things.

…

Uriael came back to the sight of the sudsy water and its warmth. Thinking about such things changed her from being relaxed to feeling disappointed. She sighed and slid down the porcelain, allowing her head to immerse under.

* * *

Maul waited as the turbo-lift made its way to the floor where his room was located, once again. It halted and the doors opened.

Not to his surprise, Farkas stood in the way of Maul's exit. He bowed to the Sith. Maul sighed quietly and tilted his head underneath his hood.

"Commander Farkas- I have a request."

"Yes, Sir?" Farkas questioned.

"I would like to bring two men with me on a mission that I have been handed."

He stopped and glanced up at the Bothan.

"You will be one of them."

"Sir- what of Lord Rokujou and Lord Tanran? Surely they would be-"

"Do you question me, Commander?" Maul asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"No, Lord Maul. I just thought that they would be of more use to you than I. I do not have ties with the Force as they do."

"I believe that my connection with the Force is substantial enough."

Farkas nodded in a forced agreement.

"I do wish to know who you think would be suitable to be my second man."

"I have a suggestion of sorts, my Lord," Farkas answered immediately. "His name is Brann. He is-"

"I know of him. He is commander Lande's son."

Farkas was a bit surprised that Maul had come to know the noghri.

"Yes, Sir. He is very well disciplined and a very useful fighter."

"Good," Maul said quietly. "Be ready for tomorrow."

"Yes, Lord Maul."

Farkas walked past Maul and went into the elevator, being sure to not raise his curiosity enough for Maul to notice.

The Sith knew that the noghri could be of great use. He was well aware of their great senses and that they were able to smell out blood lines. They were also great fighters, with great speed and agility.

Maul walked back to his room, thinking about what he had said to Volutta.

'_If only it were the truth.'_

He did not cease in walking and opened the door with the Force.

He noticed how silent the room was as he entered. The living room was bright and warm, due to the afternoon sun, and the tension of everything that had happened a few hours ago seemed to have lifted.

He sensed that she was in the bathroom. Warmth broke through his hard, cold shell, and it sure was not welcomed. Her essence felt as if she was being soothed by something warm.

'_She is in my bath. What a nuisance.'_

He grabbed the hood of his robe and pulled the whole of it off in one tug.

While guiding it into his room, he began walking towards the bathroom to take a shower before he went off to Alderaan, not only for cleansing purposes, but also to wash his frustration from his failed attempt at meditation.

He walked up the steps through the kitchen that led to the bathroom door. Slowly, he beckoned the door to open. It made its way into the ceiling to allow him entry.

As soon as he walked in, a sweet scent made its way into his reach of smell and caused him to scowl.

He looked over at the large tub and saw nothing but water with a thick layer of bubbles covering the surface. He couldn't see the Jedi, but he knew where she was.

Silently, he made his way over to the tub and stood waiting patiently for her to emerge from underneath her bath.

He crossed his arms while cocking a brow down into the pool of bubbling water. He could probably dock his speeder in there without scratching either the speeder or the tub.

He knew that she was well aware of his presence. She stayed under anyway.

'_You really are a pain in my ass,'_ Maul said to himself.

"_Of course I am."_

As soon as he heard her soft and refined voice, her head diligently rose from under the bubbles.

She moved the suds out of her way through the water and her arms went to grab hold of the edge. She pulled herself close to the porcelain, to make sure that her chest was covered.

Her eyes were shut and her head faced down. She lifted her left arm so she could slick back the now dark purple hair away from her face.

"_Do you enjoy being a nuisance, Jedi?" _Maul questioned, staring intently down at the woman.

"_I don't choose to stay here, Lord Maul," _Uriael replied. _"I rarely get to make any decision for myself nowadays."_

"_Don't complain to me," _Maul mentioned, inwardly smirking.

"_It can barely be complaining when it is the absolute truth."_

Maul noticed how forward she was now and how her persona was indifferent. It probably hadn't changed though. It was just her attitude towards him, the Sith that had her locked up in his room and who had witnessed a huge moment of weakness.

"I believe the absolute truth is that you seek pity," he jabbed.

"Not surprising," Uriael remarked.

The Sith began tracing the scars on her face and his restless stare wandered down from the orbital of her left eye to the lining of her jaw. He saw it in the shape of a "7". The right side of her face held the reflection of the scar on the left side.

Maul wondered what race she was. She had to have been a mixed breed, or a subspecies.

"Tell me what you are, Jedi," Maul ordered while he grabbed the fingers of his gloves and pulled them away.

He used the Force to place them on the sink counter.

She glanced at him with an unsure look. Uriael was still not comfortable with him and his ordering her around all of the time.

"What do you mean?"

"Your race- tell me your race," Maul repeated, ill-tempered by her lack of understanding.

"I am human."

"Don't test me, Jedi. You are not just human," he said rather smoothly.

Uriael didn't want to tell him what race she was other than human. She didn't want him knowing what she was. In fact, she didn't want him knowing any more about her than what he already found out.

'_He's doing it to make you feel uncomfortable.'_

'_If you won't tell me, I'll find out myself,'_ Maul thought.

He began searching through her mind and after a while, he had found nothing. He still persisted, trying to find even a hint of what she would not tell him.

Maul had become agitated from not being able to find what he was looking for. Why couldn't he find it? She was barely a knight and didn't have nearly as much control let alone experience with the Force as he. So how is it that her mind was so strong against his intrusion?

That's when it hit him. She wasn't using the Force against him. There was something more that she was able to do.

'_The eyes...'_

He snatched her up fiercely by the chin, lifting her out of the water enough to where her chest was exposed. He looked into her eyes with his ever so merciless glare. Her animal like eyes reflected his face within them.

She had no idea what he was doing. His hands were cold and remorseless and didn't care about anyone or anything. His touch along with the sensation of cold air making contact with her bare chest made her even more uneasy.

He had an encounter with a man that had eyes like that. The same man also had the strange ability of telepathy that was natural for his species, as he so boasted about it.

This time it wasn't the Force, but his own damned memory that would be of use to his success.

She was using her own telepathic power to make sure that he wouldn't see anything that she wanted to keep secret. Her being a Jedi, who trained in controlling thoughts and emotions, constantly meditating to seek the inner peace for their mental mind, didn't make Maul's self-imposed task any easier.

"You are half Iktotchi."

That would explain the purplish-brown colored hair; the horns of some Iktotchi were similar in color. And then there were her eyes, which were nearly the same as the man that he had a past encounter with.

Uriael's eyes emptied of frustration and filled with disappointment. She thought that he found out by beating the block that she had made in her mind, and it wasn't like she could have realized that it was his sheer luck from having an awesome memory.

"I am right," Maul said, quite pleased. "I wonder how that happened- a human and an Iktotchi… I wonder how that is even possible…"

He waited for her to comment on his muses, but she stayed quiet and continued to look off to the right.

Uriael was quite saddened in herself.

Maul released her from his frigid hold, which allowed her to nuzzle her chin down into her crossed arms, which were now pinned down to the edge of the tub by the tight grip that her hands made on her upper arms.

He started to loosen the wrap on his tunic, when he said, "You should have trained your mind more strictly."

He turned back around. She still looked off at nothing in the hopes of ignoring him.

Maul laughed quietly to himself. He loosened the wrap and placed it down on the sink next to his gloves. He easily got his tunic off with hardly a tug on the sleeve of an arm.

"I suppose you are feeling better than you were this morning."

Her ears perked up from this statement.

"Too bad for Azazul- he must have some weak rudiment. Or maybe it's just that you aren't able to carry it-"

He moved his head so he could watch her eyes wander away from him even more.

"Training to become a Jedi certainly doesn't prepare for things like that."

Her head popped up and her slanted eyes had anger and disgust exuding from them. Her eyes were the only part of her that showed any sign of being effected by his words.

"Are you serious?" she asked in a calm, soft voice.

He moved to face her while cocking his brow. The Sith was actually interested in what she had to say.

"I wasn't trained to be prepared for what has been done to me? No- you are just trying to make me feel worse than I already do, and I am sorry to say that you are far too late. _He _made me into this disgusting, lame thing long since before you were even stationed here."

Maul leaned back onto the sink counter, his ears quite alert to her words.

"I am his slave. He can do with me as he wants whenever he wants. He can even send me to other men's rooms."

She stopped and thought about what she had just said. How she said it like it was normal. This wasn't a good sign, but she couldn't help it. Her body wouldn't let her be used to such torment and torture, but her mind could.

Maul could feel this emotion of acceptance within her. She must have gotten with terms, not long ago, as to how she would most likely live the rest of her life, if she were to live for that long. She was accepting the fact that she belonged to Azazul as his victim and the hopeful womb for the offspring that he wanted.

Uriael looked down with emptiness in her eyes while cradling her head onto her folded arms.

"There isn't anything in this world that can protect me from it. I can't even think of attempting to escape- the guards around here and all of the many troopers would easily find me. And then, after I was found…"

She said this almost to herself, reminding her that she would be stuck there in this never ending Hell. Uriael looked back up at Maul briefly.

"I don't want pity. People who show pity are those who are too weak to give into acts of compassion."

She nuzzled her head back into the pillow that were her folded arms.

Maul listened on while unbuckling his boots, allowing his red and black feet to step out of them.

He did well in not thinking of his own past before she came into the picture. The girl's predicament wasn't helping with his trying to forget. She had awoken the memories which once lay dormant in him and he was certain that it was her fault that they were coming to light.

"So- is it pity or no care for what I am forced to endure?"

As she said that, Maul looked over at her with a ruthless gaze.

"I don't know how to show pity."

He walked back over, quite intimidating with his tattooed body, and stared down at her coldly.

"So that leaves me not caring."

"I figured as much," Uriael accepted.

Her stare wasn't meant to be demeaning but she definitely felt a frustration that she had never felt before, even if the fire in his eyes would not let down. She wasn't as used to feeling anger as he was feeding off of it.

Maul could see her disgust towards him.

"First of all, Jedi- I'm not the one who did those things to you. I didn't capture you, I didn't rape you, I didn't impregnate you, and-"

Maul lifted his hand and caressed the black bottom of his index finger to the purple scar placed under her left eye. She stayed still, awaiting the continuance in what he hadn't finished saying.

"-I didn't mark you as a slave."

Maul outlined the whole scar, as if he were trying to fully elaborate it for her to understand.

Maul watched on as her eyes tensed close. She would have pulled away, but she was also concealing her nudity.

"Don't hate me for things that I didn't do to you. While it is good to hate- and for me to feel your animosity and your anguish is fantastic-" he explained with a sadistic grin at the last word, "-I am in no way as weak as the man who did these things to you."

"Sith do not perform such trivial acts of violence. We do whatever is necessary for regulation of the galaxy. That is why we have an empire now. Sith don't torture for pleasure like Azazul apprehends from you."

He lifted his hand away from her.

"We kill and torture when it is necessary. We bring about wars because it is for the prosperity for all in the universe. Your kind was killed off because they had brought the Sith to extinction, and rest-assured, it was made impossible for it to ever happen again. And-"

Maul leaned forward and placed both of his large, painted hands on the edge of the porcelain tub, right in front of where the Jedi had pressed herself against the inside, and then glared at her with eyes that seeped with evil and desecration.

Uriael wanted to back away from him, but she felt like if she had moved even slightly, that he would wring her out.

"-the Jedi needed to die, because all of you- every single one- were and are nothing but weak creatures resigned to an unjustified sentiment of peace, which was holding civilization back from becoming something that could not only prosper, but become even more powerful than what any of you fools could have imagined."

He shoved himself off of the tub, and said, "I would have killed you before this."

His arms had fully released from her general direction and continued in crossing tightly against his chest.

"Azazul is a dark Jedi- with no means of true purpose. He doesn't care about there being an empire or the fact that he could be something more. He thinks that he is the primal being on his own and with that arrogance, he wants to pass down his legacy."

Maul said all this with no hand from emotion. He said it as if he were giving information or an order to Farkas or anyone that was of formal acquaintance.

"He thinks that if he mates with someone who also has a connection with the Force, that he will have a child that is just as strong as he is or even stronger. And you are perfect for the job- because you saying "no" won't matter and because you can, for some unknown reason, carry the offspring of another species…"

Uriael could have broken down and cried from all that was said, but she truly didn't have it in her to do so.

She was to be the one who would bless Azazul with a legacy that she didn't want. It was a horrible feeling; as if she was a bitch in a puppy farm, locked up in a cage, with no choice in the matter when a male was introduced.

Of course she was. He _was_ a dark Jedi after all, with a lot of powerful friends. She was just one Jedi who's Force he could tame easily with inhibitors and man-power.

Maul left her there as he began to loosen his pants from his waist.

"Turn around, Jedi," Maul warned.

Uriael failed to notice that he had been unclothing himself through the span of their "conversation".

"What?" she asked, innocently.

"Oh, nothing," he answered sarcastically, and began to tug his pants downward.

Being as modest as she was, she quickly turned around after Maul had exposed himself to her, and even lowered herself under the water. She was completely embarrassed.

Maul dropped his pants to the floor with a grin and a shake of the head, and headed towards the shower after using the Force to turn the temperature control on the water to as high as it would go.

...

After he was done with allowing his thirsty skin to soak up the smoldering water that had poured down onto him, he stepped out.

Uriael had almost fallen asleep from the warmth of her own bath and the silence of Maul.

She heard the droid offer Maul a towel. He took it and didn't offer the droid thanks like Uriael had done many times before. The droid then came over to her.

"Here is your towel, Ma'am," the droid informed to her.

"Thank you, J-23," she answered with a smile.

She then used the towel to dry off her hair.

Maul hated how genuinely pleasant she made herself out to be and was also getting tired of her being in the same place that she had been ten minutes ago.

"You know that you are in my bath."

"I didn't notice," she answered back sarcastically, annoyed by the idea that he was forming.

"So, get out," Maul hissed.

"Yes, Lord Maul," Uriael sighed.

She slowly lifted herself from the tub, shielding her body with the towel. After she had stuffed the upper loose corner into the rest of the towel she had wrapped around her torso, she turned and watched as Maul gathered his used clothes into a pile.

She walked past him and grabbed a white t-shirt off of the pile of clothes that Imara had left her. Before she could even think about waiting for Maul to give her privacy, he had already left to his room.

After he was done changing into another one of his black, tunic outfits, he walked back out to find Uriael meditating, cross-legged on the floor.

She had a new robe and a new white t-shirt and pair of training shorts that Imara had given to her.

He saw that in that time she had also braided her hair back into a tress.

"I have a question for you, Lord Maul," Uriael said. "If you would care to enlighten a lowly Jedi…"

"Heh," Maul answered, very much humored, but not impressed by what the Jedi had said.

"Why did you wish to know my name?"

"I don't need a reason for gaining information," he answered plainly.

"Well, I told you my name and you still refer to me as 'Jedi'. I thought that it was interesting," Uriael explained.

"You are nothing more than a Jedi to me."

"That is plausible enough."

She pressed on with her meditating and hoped that he would be gone for a while.

* * *

"Lord Maul, you want to go down there and talk to them?" Farkas asked while they were both in the turbo-lift, which was currently going down to the soldier's food quarters.

"They need to know that while I am here, rules do apply," Maul answered the bothan guard who was still dressed in his uniform.

"Yes, Sir," Farkas agreed.

He wondered what Maul was up to as well as his sudden interest in what anyone there did.

The elevator door opened up to a large cafeteria, in which the clonetroopers were sitting at long tables, eating whatever was given to them.

At the other side of the room, Maul could see Rokujou, Setan, and Tanran with a few guards and a few women who looked like theelins, who of course were flirting with all of the men at that table.

He made his presence known as his cloaked figure walked through the two lines of men eating their dinner meals. Farkas followed right behind him.

They all looked over at him, curiously, without the knowledge of who he was.

"Stand up men," Farkas beckoned to the troopers.

All of them, with tan faces and features that could only remind someone of the bounty hunter that was their birth, stared at Farkas as if they were bothered by his interrupting their meal.

"I said, stand up! You all know that we are keeping Lord Maul as our advisor so show him respect and get off of your asses and onto your feet!" Farkas barked out to the troopers.

At the sound of "Lord Maul", all of the troopers' eyes widened and they quickly shot up from their seats. None of them realized that the rumors about Darth Maul taking command of this station on Coruscant were true.

Maul mentally shook his head while listening to Farkas's demanding voice. He continued forward and stopped in front of the table situated with many unknown faces and of course the familiar ones.

Volutta was busy sitting on a man's lap, tickling his baldness, with the same outfit as she had on before.

Tanran was sitting and drinking some kind of fruit beverage; probably wine from Naboo. Behind him was the same Twi'lek with a green dress that had slits on both sides. It was a halter dress that she didn't look too pleased about wearing.

Rokujou had two theelin girls around him, who both looked like twins; they had the same orange-tinted skin, short purple hair, and red eyes.

Setan, on the other hand, sat farther away from them down the table, not drinking or eating anything. He had no women by his side, which was not surprising seeing how terrifying his appearance was and he himself didn't seem interested.

Imara glanced and saw that Maul was standing there while everyone else at that table was babbling drunken-nonsense.

He noticed that she saw him and looked past all of them which set his very nerves directly at her. Maul could sense many things from her. She was nervous, but it was mostly for Tanran. Maul could only guess what she had to deal with.

Imara saw him stare at her with his beastly yellow eyes and flinched. She shot her sights away from him as fast as she could.

Tanran looked up in a buzz just having noticed the man in the black hood.

"Why, hello Lord Maul!" Tanran said with an uncontrolled loudness. "What brings you here this evening?"

Volutta turned away from the bald man who was similarly dressed like Farkas, and brought her attention to the man that would not give into her. She noticed the scowl that plagued the features on his face.

"He's not much of a talker, is he?" Tanran slurred to one of the other guards, who snickered from their own drunkeness. All of the guards, except a few, began laughing as well, even though some of them probably had no idea as to what he had said that was so funny.

Setan's face did not change, and stayed just as emotionless as Maul had seen it earlier. His companion, Rokujou, was more interested in the two theelin women that had surrounded them with their attention.

"You all cease to amaze," Maul commented with venom coursing through his voice.

Farkas made it back to his Lord, noticing all of the drunken men with their whores. He also saw Imara standing in the background and the two of them both traded looks of discomfort. Neither one of them wanted to know what Maul would do with all of this.

"Ladies and gentlemen-" Farkas spat. "You all should contain yourselves!"

"Enough, Commander," Maul interrupted. "I do not need your assistance in this matter."

Farkas stepped back, as commanded, as Maul stepped backward a bit.

"It appears that there is a lack of discipline of the people who are in charge here. I have to go somewhere and will be taking Commander Farkas and Corporal Brann with me."

"While I am gone, Commander Lande and Rokujou shall remain in charge," Maul stated clearly.

"Excuse me, Lord Maul-" Rokujou interrupted, ignoring the woman who was trying to suckle on his neck. "You want me to watch this place alongside a noghri?"

"I suggest that you do not undermine my wishes, Rokujou," Maul stated flatly, whilst letting his eyes dart towards the dark Jedi.

All of the troopers stood and tried to keep composure as Maul's dark voice echoed through the hall.

"Lord Maul-" Rokujou defiantly continued.

It was one thing to have a Jedi showing disregard to the authority that was his, but another for someone that he considered to be a poser to do the same. With that, Maul pulled the Force around him quickly and darkened it with the fury within his own heart, as a warning to Rokujou.

The brown fur on the back of Farkas' neck stood up erratically and his spine shivered. He didn't know why. He looked and saw that the troopers were all standing but seemed to be anxiously awaiting something. They were all nervous; he had never seen a trooper become nervous.

Rokujou silenced himself at that moment. He was strong with the Force, but not like a Sith Lord.

"You will all follow _their_ orders, which will be influenced by these set of rules. First off-"

Maul manipulated the bottle of wine that was currently being emptied by Tanran, into his grasp. It speedily flew from Tanran's drunken hold into Maul's gloved one. He then turned the bottle upside down and poured the rest of the red wine onto the floor.

"There will be no consumption of alcohol on the premises or usage of any form of spice- at all. It slows down your ability to think past the intelligence of a womp rat and makes you look and sound like idiots. If you feel the complete and utter urge to look like a bunch of idiots, then do yourself a favor and find somewhere else to partake in it and to sleep it off."

Maul then manipulated all of the bottles of assorted alcoholic beverages into the air and heaved them past the ducked heads of the guards, which forced them to crash and break against a wall.

Volutta, Imara, and the other girls stared on in shock. The guards were all drunk and tried to focus on Maul.

The Sith threw the emptied bottle over his left shoulder, back into the unsure hands of Tanran, who looked on in disbelief.

"Secondly-"

Maul once again peered past Tanran and focused on the handmaiden.

"What the Hell?" Volutta exclaimed as Imara's body shot in Maul's direction.

She screamed as her body was forcibly thrown across the hall without her feet touching the ground.

Her left shoulder met with Maul's right hand, and she immediately stopped and made contact with the floor, while her eyes continued to leak tears from her fear.

Tanran stood up in protest against this sudden action on his slave and Farkas flinched a bit, keeping himself from spouting out what was on his mind.

'_What is the blazes is he doing?'_

Maul continued, with Imara's upper arm in his grasp "-there will be no more sleeping with the handmaidens. Handmaidens are meant to serve for women, not be whores for men."

Farkas and Imara both popped with looks of bewilderment on their faces. Imara was tempted to turn and see if Maul had a serious look to go along with his bizarre statement.

Maul looked around towards the guards, which included the now infuriately drunk Tanran.

"Starting now."

The Sith dared Volutta and the theelin women to stay with the men, and he shot them a glare that served as their warning.

They immediately ran to the other side of the room, with looks of horror and pouts on their faces. The guards, especially Rokujou, pouted as well.

Maul shoved Imara over to Farkas. The twi'lek stayed closely near the bothan. She was filled with confusion for the Sith and fright for Tanran. She could practically feel her master's fury as he stared her down.

"Lastly- if any of you so much as try to oppose my rules, you will be severely punished."

Maul lowered his face to allow shadow to, once again, engulf his strikingly villainous features. The clones were utterly intimidated by this man who was smaller than they were, but still obtained more power than they could imagine.

Farkas and Imara both backed away slightly after Maul turned towards them; they saw what pure hate looked like as it was concentrated within his eyes.

"Is there anything else that I should say, Commander?" Maul asked Farkas, who was thrown off.

"No, Sir. If you have said it, then there is no more to say," Farkas replied, still astonished.

He hadn't been used to there being rules before, especially when it regarded the safety of the females that found their stay there. Not that Maul cared, but his rules would be much better for them.

Maul looked back up, setting his sights on Imara.

"Step forward," Maul ordered.

Imara stepped out from behind Farkas in a quick pace to obey the Sith Lord. She bowed her head to him and stayed in that position.

He saw how she was made to wear similar clothing to that of what Volutta would have in her closet. Maul didn't like it.

"You know of the female that is in my room," Maul stated more than asked, quietly.

"Yes, my Lord," Imara replied absent-mindedly.

"You will tend to her while I am gone under the supervision of Corporal Himmel," he ordered.

Farkas' jaw almost dropped to the floor.

"Yes, Lord Maul," Imara answered.

"No no NO!"

The whole hall, with the exception of Maul, turned and watched as Tanran stumbled in the direction of where the Sith was with his slave.

"She is my woman. So I get to keep her!" Tanran demanded.

His already red eyes were clouded by his alcohol.

"She is not yours while _I_ am here," Maul objected with disdain towards the white Twi'lek.

"She belongs to me! Come now, Imara," he beckoned for her to listen to him.

Imara was not sure what to do. She knew that if she stayed away from her master, that he would find some way to harm her. But in the end, she kept still; he had already done enough damage to her and constantly used her like a toilet.

Tanran became upset with his slave for not abiding by his wishes. He extended his right hand out and began to will her over to him.

"You are a fool."

The twi'lek's eyes grew wide as his hand was stopped from reaching out to her any farther.

Farkas found Imara backed into him once again, and she stood firm and watched as her master's hand begin to twitch.

He looked over at Maul who was facing the opposite direction of Tanran. All he did was tense his own fingers into a claw-like grip, which initiated the twi'lek's bones into breaking.

The sound of bones popping out of place and snapping into pieces deflected off of the walls of the hall, causing most to wince from hearing what Maul had done to his hand.

Rokujou and Volutta both turned away, trying not to listen to their acquaintance cry out in horrendous torture.

Setan was the only one in the room who hadn't shown any sign of care as Tanran's fingers were pulled back until they were flat against the top of his hand. As a matter of fact, he only observed.

Each sudden movement of Maul's right hand would lead to more screaming and the nauseating sounds of more fingers and carpals being snapped in two. No one dared to look at the pain that reverberated off of Tanran's face.

After Maul was done proving a point to everyone around him in that room, he released the tension from his hand and sharply tossed it behind him. This led to Tanran's wailing body to be thrown back onto the table from which he came.

"Let us be ready to leave by the morning, Farkas," Maul said nonchalantly, as if what he had done had no impact against his conscious.

"Yes, Lord Maul," Farkas acknowledged, as he guided Imara along the path.

Imara could feel Tanran's eyes burning into her back, as she tried to steady her breath.

"I will get you, schutta!" Tanran yelled out hysterically as he was being tended to by the handmaidens. "I'll get you or the little girl! Either way, it's all the same to me!"

Imara's face fell to the floor, and she wanted to hide the sorrow that had filled her heart.

Farkas kept himself from letting loose a growl, but gave him a threatening stare instead.

What he didn't realize was that Maul had stopped walking. Farkas walked right by him, which was probably cast by Luck's hand.

"Do you want to know how I will punish you?" Maul asked, letting his voice carry through the air.

He turned around briskly and pressed his boots into the floor. He then extended his whole left arm, using his hand to aim for Tanran.

The power of his released, crimson force-lightning shot out at the speed of a laser and cracked through the stone floor.

The clones either jumped onto the table or jumped under it. They wanted to get away from the ash and the debris from this attack of ridiculous proportions. Some even grabbed their food out of fear that the dust would ruin their meal.

Imara jumped onto Farkas as they both watched the crack speedily travel towards Tanran, who was now left alone by the other men at the table.

Tanran sat helplessly as he spread his legs open to not let them touch the fault that came from the attack. It stopped suddenly, as Maul switched his arm back down to his side.

The clones, guards, and handmaidens all looked at the destruction caused. The floor looked more like a trench that had just been dug up. The fault was a good size, covering the length of the hall.

Everyone stared at Maul with looks of complete and utter amazement, as well as fear.

"If you disobey me-" Maul continued without being out of breath, "you'll find one of those ripping into your hold."

Farkas watched his lord walk past him with no facial contractions that showed him as arrogant or as a show off. He walked past, not expecting any comment or compliment.

The bothan carried the now terrified Imara in one arm and followed Maul back to the elevator. He now respected the power that this man had available to him and how he could keep his composure balanced.

* * *

Uriael had been meditating peacefully for thirty minutes before the room shook. She opened her eyes, after having felt a rush of dark energy explode beneath her.

The shaking subsided after a couple of seconds, but its effect on Uriael lasted a little while longer.

She had a vision of a man being sent down into darkness. A man that she felt that she knew. His face was blurred, but she recognized his presence.

'_Who is it?'_ Uriael pleaded with her mind to make it clear as she resumed her meditation.

He was a dark man in skin color and was about ready to kill an unarmed man. They were both near an open area high above Coruscant, which used to be a window.

'_The unarmed man… He looks a bit older… Wait- the Chancellor… Palpatine!'_

The dark man was indeed Mace Windu, threatening to kill the Chancellor.

_*The oppression of the Sith will never return! You, my lord, have lost!*Mace Windu yelled._

_*No, no, no! You will DIE!* the Chancellor bellowed._

She watched Windu deflect what seemed to be dark Force lightning back to the Chancellor.

_*I am going to put an end to this once and for all!* Mace Windu threatened._

Uriael stared at Palpatine's skin as it began to age and wrinkle rapidly from the exposure of the dark side.

Then, an unclaimed voice entered into the vision.

*_You can't. He must stand trial!*_

Uriael concentrated hard on the all too familiar voice.

_*He has control of the senate and the courts. He is too dangerous to be left alive,* Master Windu hissed._

_*But I'm too weak… don't kill me,* Sidious begged in a weak, mumbled voice._

_*That's not the Jedi way. He must live!* the voice pushed on. After that his voice filled with selfishness. *I NEED HIM!*_

_*NO!*_

Uriael watched as Windu was close to killing Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith, only to have his right hand cut off by a blue lightsaber; Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber, to be exact.

The scream of his pain sickened her and put her body into a panic. He began to crumble towards the floor, but not before Sidious attacked him with another bolt of Force lightning.

_*Power…. Unlimited POWER!*_ _the Chancellor finished._

She saw Master Windu's trashed and battered body thrust out of the room and fall down into the pits of Coruscant, as it flickered from the remnants of the Chancellor's, or Sidious's, attack.

Her eyes stung with tears that she didn't realize had become existent. Her breathing was bothered and her heart raced from all of what she had seen.

She then looked over to the glass door, which lead to the balcony.

The Jedi picked herself up and wrapped her robe around her seemingly cold, but only stressed body.

She knew that it was stupid. She knew that what she felt like she needed to do was her being reckless and not her thinking logically.

'_I have to find him…'_

Uriael wiped off the stray tears with the sleeve of her robe and she force-grabbed the boots that were sitting on the floor next to the right side of the couch. After she shoved her feet into the black, flat-soled galoshes, she ran back over to the glass door.

There was a security screen there, so she couldn't open it by laying her hand down on it; her escape would be foiled immediately. This time, she would have to work it open.

It wasn't too hard, being capable with the Force. It opened upward and the cool air from the sun's departure from the sky brushed against her. She then sensed where two cameras were on the balcony and caused them to crush without her own physical power.

Uriael ran out onto the balcony and gained the will to risk this much. Maybe it was the fact that after months, this was the first time she had felt fresh air; the first time she had stepped outside.

Or maybe it was because she could not stand the fact that the fate of Mace Windu, one of the greatest Jedi of her time and one who had shown respect and compassion, having been one of the members of the council who consented to her joining the academy, was to be left to rot down in the pits of the place that had betrayed him as well as the rest of the Jedi.

After having placed both hands down on the marble ledge, she attempted to try and steady her breathing. For a moment, she couldn't do it.

Uriael knew that she would probably be killed by Maul if she went off to try and find one of the people that meant so much to her.

'_I have to do this. I need to do this.'_

"I have to," she finally said aloud, and she pushed down with her hands, which allowed her body to make it over the balcony smoothly.

She landed quietly down on the floor, with the coverage of many columns that supported the building's structure. The sun was falling and soon it would be night. There were a few clone-troopers walking around on patrol, but she could easily pass them. There also weren't any cameras that would be able to catch her from her location.

Uriael concentrated a meager amount of the Force into speeding her pace which allowed her to bolt away from the senatorial house and off of the edge of its foundation.

Her body began to fall through the busy traffic of the once republic. She was sure to dodge a number of the many speeders that flew by, but she caught the one that would lead her to Master Windu's resting place.

A teen, who was trying to control the speeder after something large had landed on it, looked up and saw Uriael as she made her way into the passenger seat. Before he could say a word of surprise or protest, she persuaded him.

"You will take me to Coco Town," she soothed into his ear, manipulating his mind. She didn't like doing this, but it was the safest way for the both of them.

"Yes, right away," the blonde-headed boy answered, focusing his green eyes to go north of where they were.

'_Come and get me, Maul. Let's see a Sith Lord do his best at finding his prey."_

* * *

Maul stopped suddenly before the elevator as Farkas boarded it with Imara. Farkas looked at him, wondering what he was doing.

"Take the woman to her quarters. Don't go near my room," Maul ordered, as he forced the door closed.

"Lord Maul-" Farkas was cut off by the shutting doors, and quickly pressed the floor number in which Imara's room was located.

"That was a franging nightmare," Imara commented blankly, still holding on tight to the Bothan.

Farkas barely heard what she had said, for he was more concerned as to know why Maul was in a sudden rush.

…

Maul didn't even wait for the elevator to come back down to that floor. He took the stairs instead, which led to the hanger. As fast as he was going, his boots made no sound hitting the floor.

'_So now she decides to escape- perfect.'_

He finally made it to the basement level. He ran through the dimly lit hall and then angled into the dark corridor. Out of habit he keyed in the code on his wrist link for Bloodfin. The sound of Scimitar's ramp could be heard before he impatiently heaved himself over all of the steps.

As he hit the ground, his speeder had already released itself from a hidden compartment, and HK-48 was actually running down the ramp of his infiltrator.

"What is it, my Lord?" The droid asked in a cold voice.

"Watch the ship- don't let anyone come near it. Anyone!" Maul announced as he jumped on to his speeder, stealthily moving his robe for his comfort.

"Yes, Sir," the droid acknowledged, and he cocked the rifle that always seemed to be in his hold.

Maul was in such a hurry that he left the droid with his orders and not a response. The speeder raced through traffic in the direction that he could sense was her destination.

'_You thought that you would let me leave after enjoying a good hunting call, ey? I'll find you, Jedi."_

* * *

Just to let you all know, I put the little asterisks before certain quotes because I didn't write those specific lines myself.

~MN


	12. Complication

**(I do not own anything from Star Wars except for the original characters and original concepts shown through this story)**

* * *

**Ch.12: Complication**

As the red, finely-polished speeder pulled into a docking bay located near a diner in Coco Town, Uriael sensed the distinct darkness that was her chaser.

She knew that Darth Maul drew nearer as each second passed and decidedly turned to her unharmed puppet.

"You will return to your home immediately," Uriael persuaded his mind. "You will not remember this encounter with. You will go home as quickly as you can and resume what you were planning tomorrow."

She would have thanked him but it seemed wrong to thank someone who did not oblige to having his mind controlled in the first place.

The Jedi quickly made her way out of the speeder and rushed down a walking path while throwing her hood over her scarred face.

...

The blonde teenager awoke from his trance with the feeling of a sudden need to get back to his apartment. He didn't think about where he was or how he had gotten there.

He quickly reversed in direction and followed the traffic that flowed through Coruscant.

* * *

Maul felt a rush of energy commence through him as he made his way through the traffic. He could tell that the Jedi was now traveling in a less relaxed manner and that she was being quite fast about it as well.

'_What is she thinking_,' he thought to himself, while dodging a waste vehicle with his astounding depth perception and coordination.

He made an abrupt change in direction and turned a hard right with the knowledge that there was a speeder in his path. As a matter of fact, Maul could feel her fading presence within the speeder.

'_She persuaded its rider.'_

Maul thrust the speeder upward, changing gears and direction, to dodge the red speeder.

He slowed down immediately as the cloak of the coming night hid his presence in the small area of Coruscant known as CoCo Town.

He was very familiar with this place, as he had gotten tips from the owner of Dex's Diner, Dexter Jettser. Most of them were forced, since he was also one who would give tips to the Jedi for free.

He maneuvered past many tanks and ran through steam that had been released by a number of vents. He decided to park his vehicle within the steam to hide it from any possible storm-troopers as well as onlookers in general.

He stepped off of the speeder, straightened out his robe, and after looking around with what seemed to be an only slight interest in his surrounding area, he went into a most effortless sprint.

Any troopers with eyesight that could challenge a droids wouldn't have been able to catch the spine-tingling movement of this Sith. A streak of dark was all that could be seen, in which most would not notice anyway, let alone it being in the dark.

Maul persisted onward and jumped over steam tanks that were located behind the familiar and outdated diner. He looked around and found the back door in which most of the staff that weren't droids would come for a smoke.

As if on cue, an old, overweight, four-armed, brown alien, who wore a scrappy shirt, came out through the back door while having already reached into his apron for a smoke.

Maul walked towards Dexter and watched as he looked up from the burning end of the cigarra. The old alien's face changed from someone who was concentrated on getting a smoke to someone who had expected to see a ghost.

"Out of all of this chaos, I'd rather not see the face of a ruiner such as you," the old alien said dismally.

"Where destruction lies is where I get my kicks," Maul answered back. "It's been a long time."

Dexter snorted, "I'm guessing that you didn't come here for a chat and some Jawa juice, so just get to the point of your vis-"

"You saw her," Maul interrupted, knowing that it was indeed the case.

"Saw who?" Dexter asked confusedly.

"You saw a woman dressed in a brown robe running across your diner."

At that moment, a memory played in Dexter's mind. He saw a woman rushing past the diner, while he was 'conversing' with some troopers that had stopped in for a beverage. She was running rather fast and she did have a brown robe on, hood and all. But she had very noticeable markings under her eyes…

"I did see a- wait a minute. Did you just read my mind?" Dexter shouted at the Sith, not even caring about keeping his voice humble. "You little, horned pain in my-!"

"It's been fun chatting, Dex," Maul said quickly.

Maul disappeared and sprinted back into the darkness as fast as a bolt of lightning.

Dexter stood there perplexed by the situation.

"He read through my mind. I remember when he would have to force information out of me," Dexter said to himself. "I wonder how strong one can become after such a long absence as his…"

…

Maul figured it may have been five minutes since Dexter had seen her, so he knew that she could have been miles away from him. He could also sense that she was putting a strain on her body.

He didn't know exactly what she was doing; with her, he had to concentrate harder. She was very good at keeping him from looking into her thoughts.

'_I'll just have to try something different on her.'_

He pinpointed where she was by telepathically reading where she had traveled. She was several yards east of where he had currently stood. Very much near the Executive Building…

'_Where Windu perished…'_

Maul let go of his concentration on her and ran as fast as he could around the buildings. It was as if his feet didn't even touch ground.

'_She must have felt the Force emanating off of him,'_ he thought while finally reaching the edge of the street that she was just about to jump off of.

Before she could even lift her feet off of the ground, Maul had reached for her and grabbed a hold of the hood from her robe, as it was no longer a top of her head.

As he pulled on the robe, she had already taken her arms out of the sleeves. Instead of leaping forward, she flipped backwards over Maul's head and landed smoothly on both of her feet. Then, she ran up behind him and made a fist with her right hand as if wanting to punch him from behind.

But Maul had already turned around and caught her fist within his gloved, left-handed fingers. He stopped her in her tracks and furiously clinched down onto her metacarpals, while he glared down at her angrily and almost excitedly.

She gave a slight moan from the amount of pressure he pressed onto her hand, and she thought that he would crush it into a ball of bones. But she could feel as his right hand was getting ready to punch into her stomach, so she quickly moved her free left hand down and actually caught it and then dug her thumb into the very center of the bottom part of his wrist.

The Sith and the Jedi both stared at one another, as if to see who would break their hold first, but neither one of them let down. Both of their muscles, throughout their crossed arms and torsos, had begun to clinch and shiver at the unnatural strength coming from the both of them.

Uriael knew that Maul had the upper hand when it came to tolerance of pain, but she sucked it up, even if the pressure on her fist would cause her hand to fall off.

Maul had gotten dangerously bored with the game and released the hold on her right hand only to spread his fingers out in front of her chest.

Suddenly, her body was thrown backwards, because of the Force push Maul had used against her.

She almost fell onto her head before she moved her hands towards the ground to push against it, which caused her to flip backwards so she could regain control of her movement, and then landed in a crouched position.

By then, Maul had already began to run towards her. He lunged forward and made a hard fist with his right hand to pummel her.

She saw the fist and launched herself forward and allowed her body to roll until she was back to her feet, just in time to dodge Maul's attack on her. He punched what resembled a small crater in the ground. She was lucky that it wasn't her head.

As Maul had just hit his feet to the ground, she made her move. She ran up behind him like a breeze of wind, and jumped to kick him with her right leg to the right side of his stomach.

Maul sensed her movement and flexed his bicep after having lowered his arm to block her kick. He felt that it was a pretty strong kick at that. But he paid no mind and grabbed the leg that he had just blocked and threw it and the rest of her body to the ground before him.

The Jedi's body broke into the street, after she had made a force field around herself. It still hurt, but she could manage the pain by using the Force. She went to hit him in his face, but Maul grabbed the fist she had made. His hand practically swallowed the punch.

He then slammed her hand to the ground and did the same with the other, pinning her already chaffed wrists.

Uriael shut her eyes and tried to think of a way out of this. She knew what was coming next.

Indeed, Maul threw his head back in an attempt to bust her head open, but before he could, she threw her body to the left, deciding to protect her head by sacrificing her left shoulder.

Maul's attack was still damaging, and the horns on the right side of his head pierced into her shoulder and slid all the way down her back side, until his head made contact with the ground.

Uriael seethed in pain, but found a chance to free her right hand from Maul's grasp. She then reached towards the area where Maul had punched into the ground and used the Force to fling one of the lose pieces of concrete into his head.

The Sith could feel the shift in the Force, so he pulled his head up from the ground, and lifted his left arm out and caught the piece of concrete.

He then turned towards the Jedi, and glared angrily at her now unsure face. His off-white teeth ground against one another and he crushed the chunk of concrete with his hand.

The Jedi was ready to fight back with her free hand, but something very strange happened. All of a sudden, the anguish of someone grabbing a hold of the organs in her lower-abdomen commenced. And instead of flattening her palm out and thrusting it into Maul's free nose, she decided to let the fight end.

"You're finished," he said, as he punched her in the head with his dirtied hand.

Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and a scowl formed on her face. There was now a deep gash over her right eye, and the blood immediately coursed out of the opening.

"You should not have challenged me," Maul said without a loss of breath.

She truly was no match for him. He looked at her bloodied face and saw that the Jedi had started to shake off the hit, but was still a bit dazed.

'_A knight should be better than this at fighting,' _he thought to himself. _'She must be holding back or the Council really was desperate…'_

Maul stood up and lifted her off of the ground, holding her under his right arm. He knew that now was not a good time to go and fight it to the death. He should have been preparing for his mission. He also should have been keeping _her _presence quiet back in the building.

He had lied to Lord Sidious about there being no living Jedi on Coruscant. He had made out with her and almost had sex with her. He wondered what he had gotten himself into.

Did he understand? Not at all; normally, he would have fought until his opponent was dead. Not long ago, after knowing of her order he would have done so. Why didn't he? Why was she still alive? Why did he let her live?

"I've had enough of this. We're going back," Maul stated as he was about to sprint behind the buildings.

"Leave me ALONE!"

Uriael made a surprise attack and punched him straight in the chin. Her punch was almost equal to his in strength and certainly made him release her from his hold.

She scrambled herself to her feet, trying to stand as straight as she could with the painful open wounds that currently stung her back, but she was beginning to feel pain in her abdomen again. The fighting took a lot out of her and her already aching body. She also had to wipe the blood away from her eyes.

Maul stumbled backward a bit, but the hit did more damage than just the blood dripping down from the left corner of his mouth.

He was almost oblivious as to what just happened. As he felt his jaw practically break into the roof of his mouth, he swore that he could feel something. He almost felt as if something was coming at the two of them, and fast.

He looked at her while touching an index finger to the blood, just so he could see for himself if he was actually bleeding. He didn't know what he was feeling. Embarrassed, angry, or upset; he couldn't pick one of those to describe himself at that moment.

She held onto her belly and looked as if she was going to say something, but then she toppled over onto her hands and knees, and did well in not yelling out in pain.

Maul didn't understand what was going on, but he could feel that someone else was there with them.

He looked around all over the place and was at first unable to place who or where this power was coming from, but he could sense the dark side, and it was emanating from someone other than himself.

"_Just… leave me…"_

He saw her on the ground, holding her stomach tightly. He, and definitely she, could feel someone else's Force pressing down on her. The blood continued to drain from the gash he placed on her forehead and out of the grazes on her shoulder and back.

Maul walked over to her and picked her up once again, but instead of making small talk, he ran as fast as he possibly could west, through the buildings and over random things that he didn't need to see with his eyes. He was running so fast that everything he was dashing past was nothing but blurs and shadow.

"_Someone is following us," _Maul explained to Uriael.

"_Who?" _she asked while trying to hold onto him through her pain.

"_It's Rokujou."_

He jumped over a small steam vent and then asked, _"Can you conceal yourself from the Force?"_

As he expected her to say "no", she ended up answering, _"Yes."_

'_Interesting…' _he thought to himself.

Maul stopped behind the diner that he was at earlier, and ran in through the back door…

* * *

"MAUL, WHAT IN THE BLAZING HELL ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?"

Dexter, as infuriated as he was at the sight of the Sith having barged into his place of business, yelled at his uninvited guest, with all four of his arms waving in the air. He wanted to shove him out right then and there.

As he was about to try and curse Maul out of his diner, he saw the woman in his arms, oozing out large amounts of blood.

"What did you do to her-"

"We're being followed by one of Azazul's henchmen and we are going to hide here-"

"Now, wait just a minute!" Dexter commanded through his deep and profound voice. "How dare you walk in here as if you own the place? I am trying to live on with my life with this little diner, and you expect me to risk the endangerment of myself, my staff, and my customers just to harbor a Sith?"

"If you don't allow us to hide in here, I will kill you, and then you won't have a say in the matter," Maul growled, while he pulled out his lightsaber and lit up one of the ends. "We cannot be seen together, especially outside of Azazul's home. I swear that I will tear your throat out if you don't move your fat ass out of my-"

"Stop- please," Uriael begged the both of them, saying it in a whisper to remind Maul that they were trying to keep their whereabouts concealed.

She got out of Maul's hold and stood between Dex and the blood-red lightsaber.

'_Let me… please…' _she offered while applying pressure to the open wound on her forehead.

Maul looked down at her in disagreement, but powered down his saber anyway. He turned around from the other two and crossed his arms tightly. He couldn't believe that she just did that and that he let her.

Uriael continued and began to plead with Dexter.

"Please, I need a place to hide as well. I will be tortured if I am caught."

Dexter finally took his hateful gaze away from Maul and made eye-contact with Uriael.

"At least show _me _mercy, and trust that we will not let any harm come to anyone in here," she pleaded.

Dexter looked at her and back to Maul. Over and over again he did this until finally he shook his head in disapproval for the decision that he had made.

"Stay in here," he beckoned them while opening a door to a closet, which was full of boxes. "Try not to make a ruckus and hopefully you will not be seen or found. And, have this ma'am."

Dexter turned around and grabbed a fire blanket off of the wall near an old, unused stove.

"Thank you," Uriael said with a slight smile.

As Uriael limped into the closet with the blanket in hand, and Maul after her, Dexter commented-

"Just know I'm not doing this for you. You just happen to be benefiting from it."

"Go back to cooking, Dex," Maul warned, already close to the edge to tackling the big alien down to the ground and ripping out his vocal chords.

Dexter shut the door and stomped off back into the kitchen, assuring his two waitresses that his yelling was due to him having stubbed his toe on a wall corner.

The human waitress, Hermione, rolled her eyes and continued to a table with a tray on her right shoulder while the droid, WA-7, swore she heard him mutter something about "horny bastards" and something on the lines of "Sithscum."

…

Maul stood behind the door, eyes shut and brows furrowed over. He began breathing slowly through his nose. He did not like being talked down to by anyone, especially some overweight alien who wore an apron for a living.

Uriael on the other hand sat on the floor while wrapping the blanket around her upper body. She then leaned against the wall while trying to ignore the stinging pain of the harsh blanket pressing into the wounds on her back.

She would have used the Force to help it heal faster, but she and Maul were both hiding. They both needed to keep their connection with the Force to an all time low. Normally it would not have been an issue for her, but right now, her body wasn't allowing her a second of rest.

"_That was quite a story you came up with," _Maul remarked to the Jedi, _"to ensure us a place to hide."_

"_It was anything but," _Uriael reacted.

"_Oh well. If you hadn't decided to escape, we wouldn't be in this predicament," _Maul complained to the Jedi.

Uriael kept quiet and didn't say anything back to the Sith.

Everything in her and on her seemed to be in distress. She had to admit that Maul could pack one heck of a punch. She knew that he had the upper hand not just in raw strength, but in experience.

The only thing that surprised her was the fact that he didn't use his lightsaber while they fought. Once Dexter raised his voice to Maul, he immediately used the threat of his weapon. Not with her though, and she raised more than just an inkling of her voice.

Just then, both Maul and Uriael could sense that Rokujou had entered into the diner.

'_Damn, he's more in-tuned than I gave him credit for,' _Maul thought.

"_Do you think he's able enough to find us?" _Uriael asked Maul with slight disdain, not fully appreciative of the wounds that he had given to her.

She pressed hard against the wall and against her forehead, hoping that the bleeding would stop sooner than later.

"_He won't," _he answered her question.

Almost on cue, he licked the corner of his mouth, tasting the blood that had begun to dry up on his lips and cheek.

He seemed to be a bit cocky with the answer he gave, but Uriael didn't think that it had to do with the fact that he was being too sure of himself.

Maul looked back down at her, watching her breathe in and out deeply. She seemed to be doing ok… not that he cared.

He remembered feeling something push down on her after she had punched him. It didn't seem to be anyone that was there or that was near there. He knew that it couldn't have been Rokujou, because the signature was different than that. It was from someone who was far more talented in the dark arts.

"_Jedi…" _Maul said, knowing it would get her attention.

"_You want to know who that was pulling on my insides?" _she asked.

"_I know who it was. I can't believe that he is powerful enough to reach out to you as far as he is,"_ he commented, almost as if he had been thinking to himself the whole time.

"_He's never done that before. It must be because of the… miscarriage. I suppose he is a bit upset with me."_

Maul kept his eyes off of her while she answered him. He could barely stand to glance at her and see her scars, let alone look at them.

He loathed Azazul, to the point where he wasn't going to inflict any harm on the Jedi. Not the kind of harm that the Rattataki had muscled into her, anyway.

Still, if he really wanted to get under Azazul's skin, he could easily do so by killing the wretched creature. Then that pale prick would have to find somewhere else to plant his seed.

Albeit, Maul couldn't stand the thought of Azazul doing that to her either. He had to admit this to himself. All of his ill-favored thoughts on the subject made him think about what would be of her when Azazul came back.

'_Why should I care? I don't- what a waste of time to spend on her…'_

No matter how much he told himself this, he still didn't like the thought of what her fate would be if she was left there with Azazul.

He should have killed her once he found out that she was a Jedi. It wouldn't have been hard at all. Just a swift blow from his saber and she would have been put out of her misery. He would have towered over her dead body, knowing that he had killed one of the last living Jedi.

"_But, what would you do then?"_

The same voice that had plagued his thoughts earlier, while he was almost successful in his meditation, was now obstructing him in his current thoughts.

Maul could not believe his ears. This voice was becoming a worse bother than the Jedi herself.

"_You are becoming intrusive," _Maul commented as calmly as he could to the voice, without letting the girl hear.

"_That's my job," _the strange voice concluded. _"What is it you do?"_

"_I live to serve my master," _Maul answered abruptly.

"_No. You don't."_

Maul could have laughed, but he did well from doing so.

"_I live in the name of the Sith, and the reason that I am a Sith is because of my Lord, Sidious," _Maul replied back to the voice.

"_Well, your Lord has a new Apprentice. And he is more important to him than you ever were,"_ the voice construed.

"_It doesn't matter. Master was the only one that I ever had any relation to. He was the only one who appreciated anything that I ever did. He is the reason why I am still alive-"_

"_Oh no, you are very much wrong about that,"_ the voice intruded. _"The only reason why you are still alive is because of what you had been trained to do for so many years."_

Maul didn't fully comprehend where this voice was going with what he was saying. He guessed that the voice belonged to a man, because it was deep and sounded masculine. He was also sure that the voice was recognizable…

"_You live to kill. More importantly, you live to kill Jedi."_

It sounded as if the being that the voice belonged to seemed to be speaking right into Maul's ears.

"_You were trained to fight and kill Jedi for most of your life. Is there anything else that could be of more importance? No… So here she is- one of the last living Jedi. Don't you want to kill her?"_

Maul didn't know how to answer this. He was a Sith and she was a Jedi. No matter what the situation was or the conditions that were involved, they were natural enemies. They were meant to fight. They were meant to fight against the threat of death to finish the other off.

"_Of course I want to kill her. What a stupid question to ask. I was born to kill Jedi!" _Maul boasted to the voice.

"_Then do it now."_

Maul let his eyes dart over to where the Jedi was resting.

Her gray and yellow eyes showed concern for the situation with Rokujou in the diner. The cut over her left eye had finally stopped bleeding. She now had both of her hands resting on her lower-abdomen.

"_How easy would it be for you to kill her? She is in an acutely weak state. You have had much more fighting experience than she. The girl has no protection against you, and she has no means to fight back," _the voice continued on, seemingly attempting to coerce Maul to do so.

The Sith peered down at his powered down lightsaber. He could kill her there and sneak out of the diner while Rokujou interrogated Dexter. He could throw her body on his speeder and throw her down into Coruscant's underworld on his way back to the senatorial house. He could be rid of her. Rid of everything that happened during his stay there.

"_Why haven't you already done it?" _the voice queried_. "When you were fighting her earlier, you had the advantage. You had the weapon- the saber. It has claimed the lives of Jedi Masters. Surely you could have done so to her, with more ease."_

Maul shot his glance away from his saber and shut his eyes. He didn't even know the answer himself.

"_Very interesting…" _the voice contemplated. _"You do not wish to kill her. As a matter of fact, you do not wish her dead."_

Before Maul could protest against the assumption that the voice had made, he could feel an exaggerated movement made by the Jedi.

She looked as if she was about to storm out of the closet.

Maul snatched her and pushed her against the same wall that she had, until that moment, rested on.

"_What in the Hell do you think you are doing?"_

"_I know that you don't care about what happens to anyone in there, but I do!" _she yelled in a forceful tone, trying to get him to release her from his grasp.

Maul didn't know what she was babbling about, most likely because he had not been paying attention to the situation out in the diner.

Rokujou seemed to have Dexter by the neck and had just thrown him to the floor, causing all of the customers to gasp allowed and some to shriek in surprise.

"_Stop," _he said, holding her back.

"_I don't care if I get beaten or whipped. He didn't do anything to deserve to get attacked like this," _she countered with a pleading voice. _"Let me go and you won't have to deal with me anymore- I'll be put back in my cell and stay there until Azazul returns-"_

"_SHUT UP!"_

Maul startled her with his tremendous voice and she ceased her struggle against him.

"I will handle this. Stay in here and do not dare to reveal yourself."

Maul let go of her and left her in the closet. She slowly slid down on the wall so that she could sit down, with a look of immense puzzlement on her face.

A swarm of thoughts entered into her opened mind, and she tried to sum up with her own answer as to why _he_ went out there to stop Rokujou's actions.

The Jedi looked about the closet while in thought, taking in the sight of boxes stacked upon boxes. This must have been an area where Dexter kept extra supplies when they were needed.

As she let her eyes wander about the dark closet, she noticed one box that was semi-opened. With the light that crept in through the sides of the closet door, something shiny, in the box, caught her eyes.

Uriael slipped her hand into the box to grab the object, out of curiosity. She grasped onto it and pulled it out; she realized then that it was a dining knife with a plastic cover over the blade.

She stared at the serrated edge of the piece of cutlery.

'_It is nothing like a lightsaber, but it wouldn't hurt to have just in case…'_

She decided to keep the knife as a defense, if she needed it. She let the knife into a pocket that was located on the black shorts that Imara had lent to her.

* * *

The Sith stepped out, hooded and a bit unnerved. He was dealing with some voice that nagged at him any moment he had time for his own thoughts, he could not find himself able to kill the Jedi, and now he had to deal with the idiot darksider that had followed him thus far.

Maul rounded a corner and then walked into the dining section of the place.

The Arkanian, Rokujou, had his lightsaber ready to cut off Dexter's head.

"You had better tell me the truth right now, Jettster. I know that he has been in here- I could sense him right outside of this very building!" Rokujou bellowed out, not even noticing the man that had leaned against a wall right outside of the entrance that led to the back of the quaint restaurant.

All of the droids that had been doing dishes in the kitchen looked over at him and back to the situation with the white-haired alien that was currently threatening their boss's life.

"I swear that I haven't seen him in years!" Dexter repeated, trying hardily to advocate himself.

"Boss!" the waitress-droid, WA-7 screamed, with a frightened waitress covered in freckles standing and shaking behind her.

The two of them were right behind Dexter and wanted to help him up, but didn't in fear of the angry creature that had just walked in.

Rokujou's ghostly white eyes seeped with annoyance and frustration with his hostage. He didn't care about the fact that so many people would witness the murder. He had killed many with spectators watching.

Rokujou used the Force to force Dexter even farther into the floor that he was sprawled out on. Maul heard the sounds of people trying to keep their children from crying at the sight of this intruder and the sounds of each breath that Dexter was trying to make.

He then let loose his lightsaber, allowing its blue light to spill out.

The ill-tempered Arkanian hissed, "You lie to me. Maul has been here and you know it. Tell me where he has gone or I will cut you down a size!"

"Rokujou."

Just as his name was called, he looked towards the back and saw the Sith that he had been searching for leaning back on a wall, with his arms tight across his chest.

Everyone in the restaurant now set their attention on him.

"Lord Maul…," Rokujou couldn't find a word to say in account for his following him there. He looked back down at Dexter and seethed, "So you _did_ lie to me-"

"He only did as I ordered him to do," Maul interrupted.

"_Why have you followed me?__"_ Maul imposed on his spy.

"Why are you here, Lord Maul?" Rokujou asked, ignoring Maul's very own question.

"I came here for some ardees," Maul answered dishonestly. "And he was cooking me something to eat."

At the same time, he spoke to Rokujou through telepathy.

"_Azazul ordered you to follow me around. I know this. But remember… I am the boss now, and-"_

Maul walked past the two frightened waitresses as if they weren't even there, and didn't pay any mind to the disgusted and petrified customers. He kept his mighty gaze solely on Rokujou.

"_-if you ever follow me again, I will butcher you and feed you to the Cthons down in the pits."_

"Power down your saber," Maul commanded with a cautionary cocked brow.

"No," Rokujou objected out of frustration.

Maul almost allowed a growl to pass his tattooed lips, as his saber whipped right into his hand. He powered it up, once again, letting the crimson weapon out of its chamber.

"_Do you really want to challenge me?" _Maul catechized, hoping that he could let his vexation out on the dark Jedi.

'_I can fight you!'_ Rokujou thought to himself, knowing that Maul would hear.

"_Anyone can fight me, you cur."_

Maul then powered the other end of his saber.

"_But mine is larger than yours," _Maul grinned.

Rokujou looked down at Dexter, who was now staring awkwardly at Darth Maul. The bewildered alien powered down his lightsaber, released Dexter from his hold, and advanced out of the diner, hating Maul for disconcerting him in such a way.

Maul watched as Rokujou leaped into his speeder and rushed back to the house.

He figured now that maybe he wouldn't be able to trust anyone that would be left here on Coruscant when he went on his mission. He would most likely be able to trust the noghri, so he was considering leaving them solely in charge.

"Maul, what in the world did you just do?" Dexter questioned in his usual condescending manner, while the two waitresses helped him get off the floor as he used his lowest pair of arms to push himself up.

"I told him to get off of my back," Maul acknowledged. "I suppose that, by chance, you happened to benefit from it."

Maul then added, "I was serious about the food."

Dexter dusted off his apron and the rest of his clothes, while giving Maul a sappy smirk.

Maul walked past all of the people in the dining room and continued on into the back.

Dexter on the other hand looked around at his costumers. He just put all of his arms up in the air and stated:

"Don't be alarmed! I am fine and so are all of you," he added, "You all get half off on all of your meals- a house specialty!"

* * *

Maul opened the closet door and saw the young Jedi sitting down cross-legged, with her hands still placed on her lower abdomen.

She looked up at him, with no intentional expression in mind to give. She gave a sigh, as she got herself up from the position she was in.

"So, you scared off Rokujou," Uriael commented to Maul, as she wrapped the blanket tighter around her and then cracked her neck by jerking her head to either side.

Maul remained focused on her. He didn't fully understand why, but he couldn't think of anything to say to her.

After she punched him dead square in the chin, he had thought about a lot of things. Like how the last time anyone had ever laid a hand on him was during a training session with Lord Sidious when he was barely a teen.

Uriael glanced up at him and realized that he had been watching her without a moment's rest. She backed away, only slightly, concerned with the uncommon look that he gave.

He couldn't stand that she had weakened him like she had. He couldn't kill her… he didn't understand why he couldn't but he didn't want to make it apparent to anyone, especially her.

"Here you are, Darth Maul," Dexter said, holding a large plate that had two large, rare-grilled steaks with some green vegetables on the side. "I figured you would want some meat."

Maul took his gaze off of the Jedi and grabbed a hold of the plate and walked past the both of them towards the darkened area where an old stove was, without a single word.

Dexter's eyes slanted at the sight of the thankless Maul. He then looked down at the young woman.

"Would you like something to eat?" he asked, not wanting to seem rude.

"No thank you," she answered, appreciative of being considered, but weary of the food options that Dex's Diner had available.

Dexter formed a look of concern and offered, "Let me see those cuts on your back."

Uriael obliged to his concern and took the blanket off of her shoulders. She then turned around, to let him see.

"Oh geez," he gasped silently. "Well, they aren't very deep and the bleeding has stopped, but they are going to need cleaning."

He sighed and looked back over at Maul, who was currently biting into one of the rare-cooked steaks.

"He did this?"

"I suppose that I deserved whatever wounds I received tonight," she responded guiltily. "Not too worried about scars, though."

At hearing that, Dexter snapped two of his fingers together and he left her there by her lonesome. She didn't take offense, because it seemed like he had left with reason.

Dexter returned with a large tube of some kind of ointment and handed it over to her, sneakily.

"This stuff works wonders on scarring- I keep it here for cuts and burns. There is some kind of cellular reconstruct in it, so it renews damaged skin," he explained, "and even if those scars don't go away completely, someone would have to look really hard in order to see 'em."

Uriael smiled and slipped the tube into the left pocket in her shorts, and then finished with, "Thank you for everything tonight."

"You are welcome, dear," he accepted with a large, crooked grin. "Be sure to bandage yourself up."

She nodded towards him just as Maul walked towards the two of them with a now empty plate.

He tossed the plate at Dexter and said, "Could have been better."

"Sure," Dexter replied, not amused by Maul's rudeness, and then left to the kitchen.

"Let's go," he said to the Jedi and then turned and marched his way out of the diner.

"Keep your connection low as well. I don't want Rokujou informing his boss that I've been joyriding with you."

Uriael did as he said and commenced behind him, while wrapping the blanket back around her shoulders. As much as she opposed Darth Maul ordering her around, she had to agree with him; Azazul would be furious to know that she had gotten outside of the house in the first place.

She stepped out of the back door and watched Maul as he dialed in something on the metal bracelet that she had seen during their first encounter.

She stayed behind him and once again tickled at her abdomen. It was still giving her a bother. She also made sure that her new hidden weapon was safely tucked down into the pocket.

Maul stood while waiting for Bloodfin to come over to him. He peered down at his own abdomen because he had felt a stinging pain in his scar. This wasn't anything unusual; it would happen every once in a while, always at random.

As he brought his attention away from the scar, his speeder flew to the scene and halted right in front of its owner.

Maul got onto the speeder, swung his right leg over the seat and set both of his feet down on the pedals. He moved his hooded head in the Jedi's direction.

"_Get on," _Maul ordered the girl, who had cocked a violet brow while sizing up his custom-made speeder.

Uriael pulled tightly onto the blanket as she stepped over to the speeder that she herself was not sure of. It was more like a bike, rather than a vehicle.

She did as Maul had and swung her right leg over the seat.

One could say that both of them were uncomfortable, being so closely seated in such a crude manner. The Sith seemed to not care as much as the Jedi did. He didn't seem to care much about anything that was going on at that moment.

He immediately took off with the speeder, jetting through all of the buildings that he had gone through while he was searching for her.

Uriael instantly grabbed a hold of the blanket to keep it around her neck and grabbed a hold of Maul's waist with her other arm, without hesitation. Her eyes popped open once they began moving into traffic.

She didn't mind regular speeders that one could actually sit in. This, on the other hand, didn't feel safe… knowing who it belonged to made that fact less shocking.

Maul continued and made his way into traffic, dodging all of the vehicles that were in his way.

He felt a strange sensation when Uriael wrapped around him with her arm. This feeling was similar to that of when she rested her head on his shoulder earlier that day. He could not comprehend what this feeling was exactly, but it wasn't anything that he had ever felt before.

The air passed by them steadily as the speeder pushed against the wind and the rest of the traffic. It was night by now, and the only light that was left was from the buildings and all of the other vehicles that passed them by.

Maul was used to wind blowing at his face, to the point where he didn't notice the pain that came from the sharp cold. A lot of things that would cause any nuisance of hurt didn't seem to vex him.

Uriael, on the other hand, was very glad to be behind the Sith. Even though her skin was thicker because of her Iktotchi heritage it was nice that his body acted as a shield against the cold that traveled with the wind.

'_Hmm…' _The idea of Maul acting as any form of protection for her was fairly peculiar, even if it was coincidental.

The fact that Maul had not killed her seemed to have troubled her thoughts. Of course she was glad to be alive, but it didn't feel right. That night when she was forced into his room, there was also something that had happened that confused her.

'_He did all of that stuff, not realizing that I was forced…'_

She didn't want to say anything, but she could sense some form of turmoil that Maul had been enduring. It was like he had been combating with himself, almost ever since they first encountered one another. She had a faint idea that maybe that was why she wasn't already dead.

Uriael tightened her hold around Maul, bringing herself even closer to him. She even went as far as to rest her head on his back, while in thought.

Both of Maul's hearts began to race as she persisted in holding onto him even more tightly. He felt as she outstretched her fingers over his waist and as she pressed closer to him, in an almost embracing fashion.

'_Don't even think about it,' _Maul cautioned as he reminded himself that the woman behind him was still a Jedi.

He was beginning to feel even more discomforted by the situation. The sensation that he had felt when she first touched him seemed to increase. He wasn't sure if he didn't like it or, even worse, that he _did_ like it.

Uriael shut her eyes and went along with the ride, without allowing the sounds of ongoing traffic to deafen her thoughts.

Something about him didn't add up. He had so many chances to kill her and he took none of them. He could have murdered her while they were in that closet back at Dex's Diner. She thought that he would.

At the same time, she could feel that there was tension between him and Azazul…For obvious reasons, she was glad that there was.

'_Maybe there is a personal issue?' _she considered, _'He did seem to be offended when I made a comparison. He didn't have anything good to say about him either…'_

"_Do you have a history with Azazul, Lord Maul?' _Uriael inquired.

Maul was just about relieved when she broke the cumbersome dead air between the two of them. It undoubtedly took his mind off of how close she was at the moment, and he approved of her referring to himself as "lord" and decidedly dismissed its use for Azazul.

"_Not much of one."_

"_He seems to think of himself as a Sith," _she explained.

"_I wouldn't put that past him- he is only around because he has money. He has never been in any form of confrontation that would benefit someone other than himself…" _Maul paused, as he remembered the vision that he had while choking the Jedi close to death.

He then proceeded with what he was beginning to say, _"I don't approve of him or anything he has done. I've never had a problem overlooking any thought that would ever come to mind dealing with him. I've never had a problem overlooking him at all."_

Maul could have said that he didn't like him, but that was something Maul would consider an understatement.

"_Oh…" _Uriael sighed, and shut her eyes even deeper than before.

She knew that it was naïve to think that Maul had a personal problem with Azazul, maybe even something that had to do with what he had done to her. But for some reason, there seemed to be more to that relationship than Maul was letting on.

Before she knew it, she could feel the speeder spring upward, which pulled her body into the rough air that fought against this unnatural change in direction.

Maul landed the speeder right on the balcony of the room that the both of them were staying in.

The Jedi had just noticed how impressed her hold on him was and immediately let go of the Sith. She scurried off of the speeder and made sure that she didn't look at him in the face, while wrapping the blanket around her upper body again.

"I-" Uriael couldn't get out what she wanted to say to him.

"What, girl?" Maul beckoned, as he stepped off of the speeder and typed in a code onto his control bracelet.

Uriael watched as the speeder leapt off of the balcony with a roar as it went down back into the Sith Infiltrator.

She kept her eyes facing away from Maul, even as he drew closer to her and even after he ended up standing right in front of her with his arms crossed.

"What?" he demanded while he stared down at her.

"I'm…" she looked down and then let her gray eyes fix onto his face, which even in the night was shadowed by his coal-colored hood.

"I'm sorry."

Uriael turned away from him and then opened the glass door so that she could get inside, away from the Sith.

'_What was I thinking?' _she got onto herself for what she did while on the speeder with Maul. _'I was practically embracing him!'_

Maul stood outside, going over and over in his head what she had just said to him.

'_Sorry…'_

For whatever reason she said it, he was shocked by hearing such a word said to him, and from the mouth of a Jedi at that.

With what he could remember, in all of his life, he had never been apologized to. He had never been given a "sorry" for any wrong that had been committed against him. Anything bad that had ever come… he usually thought that it was his own fault.

Maul could feel her in the room. She felt ashamed of herself because of how close she had gotten to him on the speeder.

The wind seemed to be picking up as Maul continued to stay on the balcony. He wasn't thinking about anything in particular, as he allowed the cool breeze to pass underneath his dark robe. He turned to face the lights of Coruscant and gazed at nothing.

As he felt the wind force itself underneath his hood, he could sense that something was going to happen or that it was already happening; whether it was a good thing or bad thing, he couldn't tell.

It was almost as if whatever it was had been sneaking itself onto him. He couldn't stop this thing, this event, or this epiphany that would show its unwanted face to him.

He turned around and decidedly made his way inside, letting the glass door slowly shut behind him. The room was dark and chilly, and sure enough, the Jedi was bundled up on the couch, messing around with her gray tunic, which had been ripped next to the neckline.

"I have noticed, Lord Maul, that you are finding that there aren't too many people here that you can trust," Uriael brought up in an almost random fashion.

She was pretty sure that it had been on his mind.

"I have never trusted anyone," Maul answered back, letting his hood fall down off of his horned-head. "Nor do I feel the need to have anyone to trust."

"Of course," the Jedi replied, with a soft and calm voice, and she noticed that there was dried blood on three horns on the right side of his head.

She got herself off of the couch, and headed towards the refresher before she stopped and added-

"I didn't realize how close that I made myself on the way back here. I _do_ apologize for that."

Maul did not reply to what she had said. He then went to his room and shut the door.

He leaned back on the door and made a very rough sigh. He pulled his gloves off and threw them on his dark-blue covered bed. He then grabbed a hold of his jaw, which was still tender from the blow that the Jedi had given him.

'_What's wrong with you?' _Maul contemplated over and over to himself. He was trying really hard just to maintain composure. He actually had to _try._

One side of him knew that all of this was wrong; he should have told Lord Sidious that Azazul had been keeping a Jedi with him on Coruscant and he should have asked permission to destroy her, which also added to the fact that he should have wanted badly to kill her.

He had waited for a moment like this. He pined for the opportunity to slaughter just one more Jedi for more than a decade. Of course, he would have preferred the Jedi to have been one with more experience, one with whom was a man, and one whom he had fought with before…

But, even if he hadn't the chance to fight with Obi-Wan Kenobi, he had a chance to fight and kill this one. He could tell that she had a lot more talent than she let show. He knew that in normal conditions lacking the elements of her circumstance that she could probably give him a run for his money. Just the thought of it should have made him run into that bathroom to cut her body into pieces.

There was that dreaded thought, though, that if he had killed her… he would regret it. The thought of killing her, instead of fueling his malicious fantasies, actually gave him a sinking feeling in his gut. It was the kind of feeling that people generally did their best to avoid.

'_Why do I feel this way?'_ Maul stated, more than asked.

He stated this admitting that he really did feel this way. He truly did not want to kill her. As a matter of fact, it felt wrong to even consider killing her.

* * *

After Uriael had taken a hot shower to properly clean out the wounds on her back and to clean the dried blood off of her face, she got out and grabbed a towel from the droid, thanking him in the process.

"Is there any gauze and med-tape available?" she asked the droid.

"Yes, Ma'am," he answered. "I will go retrieve it for you."

"Thank you," she said, as she walked over to the mirror to look over the wounds that Maul had given her that night.

She made sure to cover up the cut on her forehead with the healing ointment that Dexter had given to her. Even though she knew her skin would heal up well, as it was in her nature, she wanted to be sure.

Before she applied it to the gashes on her back, she looked at herself in the mirror and couldn't help but frown upon Azazul's scars.

The only reason why the wounds to her face had not healed properly was due to the fact that there was ink lodged just beneath the skin. This also caused the area around the ink to feel tender.

'_These markings,'_ she began thinking to herself, _'They are a symbol of everything he has done to me… A symbol of all of the sins committed onto me and my body…'_

She held up the bottle of ointment and thought about doing something. The thought of it sent her adrenaline through the roof, for before these past months, she wouldn't have possibly thought about performing something that was so… invasive.

Uriael bent down and looked in the cabinet underneath the sink. She was able to find a bottle of normal antiseptic.

Uriael then reached into the pocket of her shorts, which were folded on the sink, that she hid the knife from the closet in. Once again, she found herself grasping at the wooden handle while taking off the plastic covering.

Without a moment's hesitation, she leaned across the counter, over the sink to stare at the dreadful scars that Azazul, the man who had impregnated her against her will, had carved into her.

She took the knife by the handle and pointed the sharp tip at her face. After having spread her fair, clean skin away from the edge of the purple scar on the right side of her face, she took in a long, deep breath.

The Jedi exhaled, and immediately pressed the blade into the base of the scar underneath her eye.

She hissed in pain, but kept quiet. She continued, re-carving the shape. Blood began to trickle out of her self-inflicted wound. She stopped after she had made it to her lower jaw, where the scar ended.

Her violet eyebrows were tightly furrowed as she let her face hang over the sink so that the blood could drip down the drain. She hovered over the porcelain, which was now stained with blood, for a few moments.

As she waited for the bleeding to slow down just enough, she brought the bottle of antiseptic closer to the sink.

The bleeding finally slowed down and she willed a paper towel out of the cabinet below. She dabbed at the re-opened wound, to get the excess fluid off of her skin and to dry it as much as was possible.

'_Good enough,'_ Uriael said, after having turned her head to the right over the sink.

She grabbed the bottle of antiseptic, to her right, and took another deep breath, exhaled, and began to pour the antiseptic into the bloody, purple scar.

It sizzled and burned into her skin and she tried hard not to well up with tears from how much it hurt. She kept her right eye shut tight, and let her left eye remain open, so she could see the foaming liquid hit the sink, bringing with it both remnants of blood and the purple dye that had situated itself in the very dermis of her skin. She even squeezed around the scar, forcing more of the dye out.

Finally, after having poured the whole bottle over the right side of her face, she lifted her head up and used the blood-stained towel to wipe the bitter liquid away from her mouth and wound. She lifted the towel away from where the purple scar once was to find nothing but a fleshy-colored, opened wound.

The droid had returned from underneath the small cabinet door next to the sink with a thick roll of white gauze, and set it down on the counter next to the Jedi, without showing any interest in what she was doing to herself.

While preparing to work on the other side, she didn't consider what Azazul would think of her handy work. She had thought, however, about what Maul's reaction would be.

'_He didn't seem to like them very much anyway.'_

* * *

That night, Maul had done a lot of thinking. He still was not sure of a lot of things, but he was certain of one. He would not be able to kill the Jedi-girl that he had in his custody.

The Sith walked out of his room, fully clothed, and sighed at the sight of the prisoner. She sat on the carpeted floor, with her legs crossed and her hands on her lap in a meditative stance. She had bandaged up the wounds on her back and the gauze wrapped around her right shoulder, and the rest of her back, to where she didn't need to wear a shirt.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" she asked him, already knowing what his answer would be.

He looked away from her and headed towards the refresher, so that he could do his business and take a shower. As he entered, he could smell the faint aroma of blood, which he recognized was the Jedi's. He ignored it, and headed towards the toilet.

After he was done with the bathroom, he stepped out and walked over to where the water dispenser was. He took out a glass and filled it up to the brim. He needed to drink not only because he was thirsty, but because his mouth was oddly dry.

He once again walked past the Jedi, and headed towards the door. He pressed the screen and the door shot up, exposing the hallway.

Before he left, he stood and waited, thinking of what to say to her. He turned his head and explained-

"I will be back in a week's time. I will be taking Commander Farkas and the one of the noghri. I was going to leave Rokujou in charge, but that would now seem to be a rather grave mistake… Instead, I am leaving the other two noghri in charge."

Uriael turned her head to the left and peered over her shoulder towards Maul, to show that she was paying attention.

Maul turned to face her as well. He noticed something different, but he didn't leave himself enough time to observe what exactly it was.

Each pair of strange and unique eyes looked at the other, waiting for the Sith to finish.

"Don't do anything that would force me to come back sooner than I should have to. Himmel will watch over you and he will give orders to the twi'lek handmaiden. There shouldn't be much excitement around here until I leave for good…"

Uriael responded, "See you then."

'_Sure,'_ he thought to himself as he walked out into the hall, leaving the girl behind in his room.


	13. The Line Begins to Blur

I know. I KNOW! It's been, like, a YEAR?- TWO? Or something along those lines. I am very sorry for it, but I literally lost inspiration for this and gained it for almost everything else. I got a boyfriend (Berto, lawl), started college, am heavily into college and trying to become a nurse, and you know... just the regular "some real crap went down this year" for the past few years. But here I am, trying to redeem myself. I have gained it back and even though I won't be able to get chapters out like I was able to in the past, I will try my hardest to make sure it isn't a freakin' year before I update.

OH! And not to mention the fact I revised it, again. Found out some things about some species and sh*t. Yeah... so I didn't want to look like an uber noob.

I hope you enjoy.

~MN

**Ch.13- The Line Begins to Blur**

"This is quite a ship," Farkas observed as he walked around the passenger seating area within Scimitar.

"I know," Maul replied to Farkas's statement with his typical indifference towards anything.

It had been about three days since Maul, Farkas, and Brann had left Coruscant to go to Alderaan.

The days carried out longer than they normally would for the Bothan and the Noghri, since they really didn't have anything to do but to play stop-motion chess. Thankfully, there was a washroom available to them.

Farkas didn't understand why it was taking this long to get to Alderaan. With the ship that they were currently in, he figured that it would have gotten them there in less than a day.

It was true that Maul's Infiltrator would have gotten there in less time than that, using light speed, but he was given a set date and time by Lord Sidious. He of course did not tell either of the other men that, because of why they left so early in the first place.

Maul didn't fully elaborate on what he was sent there to do. In his opinion, the other two were on a need to know basis.

It is easy to assume that Maul would have been able to assassinate Bail Organa on his own, but he was only supposed to kill the senator and no one else.

For this, he needed to be sure that there was enough distraction for him to kill the senator and then to manipulate the scene to make it look like it was the rebellious act of one of the senator's guards.

"We will be landing on Alderaan shortly," Maul announced, as Brann walked up behind Farkas, after having gotten to the upper deck's seating area from the lift.

Brann stood there, looking uninterested as he seemed to always remain.

"You want us to distract security, Lord Maul?" Farkas asked, without showing the concern that he had.

"Yes," Maul answered the Bothan. "Take off anything that looks imperial."

Farkas nodded and took off his body armor, leaving only his red undershirt, his metal waist covering, and his black pants. He went and threw it on one of the passenger chairs seated behind the cockpit.

Brann took off his armor as well, which left his dark-blue, skin tight undershirt and a pair of black skin tight pants with the same metal waist coverings that Farkas had.

He didn't like that he was being used as a diversion so that Maul could do his deed. Of course, he would not oppose him, for he didn't want to deal with an irritated Sith Lord.

The ship landed on a hill that rested on a cliff, which overlooked the city. It consisted of patches of white buildings that were lit up in the night.

There was also a group of snow-covered mountains that sat behind the city, from what Maul could see.

As the hanger released the ramp, Maul walked down onto the rocky-ground. He wasn't distracted by this new planet as he released his Dark Eye droids and sent them out to scout the surrounding area.

Farkas and Brann, on the other hand, made sure to take in the new setting.

"I've been so used to living on a planet that is completely overcome by buildings, that I have let myself forget about what a natural surrounding looks like," Farkas thought out loud, smelling the air.

"Honoghr used to look something like this," Brann said quietly in a whispered tone, standing behind the tall Bothan.

"I don't remember what Bathawui looks like," Farkas commented with lack of nostalgia for his home world.

Maul had been ignoring the two other men while analyzing Alderaan's capital city, Aldera, through his electro-binoculars, and put them down after he had found the Royal Palace. He thought about what he would do to get inside.

In his head, he could see the other two making their way into the main entrance of the senator's home, which would grab the attention of the senator's guards. He would leave it up to the two of them to find means of distraction.

Two of his droids floated back immediately with intelligence that included the fact that there were no visible guards in the surrounding area as well as around Organa's home. The last droid came back with information on where Bail Organa's sleeping quarters were located. He sent them back into the ship.

"Follow me," Maul directed to the others as he began walking down the hill.

"Lord Maul, are you going to just leave the ship-" Farkas began, before Maul interrupted.

"I want both of you to gain entry into that building-" Maul ordered, while pointing to the palace. "Make sure that you take your time and that you do not bring any suspicion of the fact that any persons, other than yourselves, are here. Take out the guards, if you must. Take this-"

Maul threw a small box to Farkas. Both the Bothan and the Noghri took a look at it and noticed that it looked similar to a speaker.

"Commander, with this I will be listening to everything that is going on where you are situated. When it vibrates, return to the ship immediately," Maul continued to instruct the two of them. "Do not board the ship without me."

Both Farkas and Brann had a change in face, as if they were about to ask him 'why'.

"First- you wouldn't be able to find it. Its stealth qualities make it hard to do so. Second- Scimitar has a safety mechanism that will sound if anyone other than me enters. My droid, HK-48 will shoot to kill anyone who tries to enter without me."

Maul turned to look at the two baffled men, who both turned back to look at his infiltrator. He then placed a small headphone in his right ear.

"Let's go."

All three of them made it into the city with little effort. Farkas was concerned by this. A major influence against the Emperor, whose life was threatened even on his home planet, should have more security and people patrolling the outer edges of the city.

Brann seemed to have caught a scent that really grabbed his attention. He took whiffs of the air and with each whiff, a look of concern deepened on his gray face.

Maul held out a hand that signaled for his companions to stop.

They were about nine meters away from Organa's house, which was more like a senatorial building, similar to the one back on Coruscant.

"Go to the entrance," Maul said as he began to walk off in another direction. "Nothing suspicious until the time is right…"

As Farkas turned back around, wanting to ask Maul a question that seemed to be troubling him, he saw that the Sith had already gone.

"Brann," Farkas began, "Don't you think that it is odd that there was no security at the entrance to the city and that there doesn't seem to be any throughout?"

"I've been wondering about that myself," Brann agreed in a whisper, still concentrating on the familiar scent. "Do you think that Lord Maul has thought about this?"

"I am certain that he has," Farkas answered back, not wanting to say anything that would irk Maul.

He had not forgotten about the transmitter. Maul could hear every single word that the two were speaking. He placed the box in one of his pants pockets.

"We should be going now- let's hurry this up."

Maul climbed up the back side of the senator's house and jumped up and grabbed the edges of every window that led to his destination.

He could sense that everything was going ok for the Bothan and the Noghri, but their words did trouble him some.

'_There is a lack of security…'_ Maul thought to himself, wondering why this would be.

Certainly a man like Organa would have a heavier defense against a sneak attack than this.

He continued to climb effortlessly, now up to the fifth story. Even with his thick coal-colored robe and his heavy soled boots, it was an easy task. He seemed to know how to climb and jump onto things naturally, like a monkey knows how to swing from branch to branch in a tree.

Finally, he spotted a large terrace just one floor above him that was three times as large as the one in his room back on Coruscant.

He threw himself over the balcony's cemented edge, and landed lightly and quietly on the floor.

He crouched and looked around, in order to get a feel for his surroundings and to sense the unfamiliar silent area that he was about to enter.

Maul straightened himself up and walked towards a rather dense and complicated security screen. He sensed that there was more to this door than appearances allowed.

Indeed, he saw a security lock that was voice activated. He would not be able to open it since he lacked a recording of the senator speaking (let alone the word or phrase that needed to be said).

'_Too simple.'_

Maul reached into his robe and pulled out a gun with a square-shaped barrel and a small panel of control functions. He pointed it at the screen and pulled the trigger. Out came a beam of green light, in the form of the barrel's shape.

He then typed in functions and the laser seemed to grow larger in area. As the area of the square, outlined with the green laser, grew larger, the screen itself seemed to spread apart.

Maul called this his energy disrupter gun, which separated the particles of any energy field, like this one, to make it momentarily inactive within the area- of course, that was how the term "disrupted" came about.

He then took out four stabilizers, which he could put at each corner of the opened area itself so that he could walk through without having to worry about it closing on its own. He made sure that this would be the way for him to get out as well as go in.

He put the disrupter gun away in his robe and climbed through.

The room that he climbed into was a tremendous living room, with large ornate pieces of dark-brown furniture that decorated the area, giving it a charming look. One could certainly make out that someone who was wealthy, and most likely important, lived in this section of the building.

Maul looked around, sensing any life forms that were currently in this section, or on this floor. He could feel the presence of two. They weren't very distinguishable, but there was definitely no less and no more than two.

He noticed that there was an entrance into the living room that opened up to a dimly lighted hallway. There were no other exit ways from the room that he was in, so he walked forward towards the hallway.

He could tell that both of the two people that were on this floor were sleeping, for there was no movement that was present to him.

His head turned to the left and to the right as he began making observations of the surrounding area, which was a vast oval shaped standing room that led to three other areas. The two to his right must have been bedrooms while the one straight ahead of where he stood was open, and appeared to have furniture best suited for an office. All the way to the left was a turbolift.

Maul reached into his robe once again and pulled out a blaster. He had never really used a blaster to assassinate someone on a job like this, but he figured that it would be pretty dumb to use his lightsaber because of the extreme difference in wounds that they each made.

The first door on his right must have held a sleeping youngling, because its life force was miniscule.

Just as he was about to approach the large doorway, across the room from the turbolift, of what must have been where his prey currently rested, something that he heard in his left ear stopped him in his tracks.

There seemed to be a lot of commotion going on where Farkas and Brann were. The voice of a man who must have been a royal guard caused a pause in the assassin's plan.

'_Not here… he's not here…'_

The only other person that was on that floor must have been the senator's wife. Just to make sure that he was not mistaken, he went down to the last door, in which the last person was.

He could feel the presence of one individual and the smell of a female held strong in his nose.

Maul practically growled out of his silence and almost crushed the blaster with his bare hand. Somehow, he had been deceived.

'_Master said that he would be here. How in the Hell is he not here?'_

Maul knew that this was no time to ponder on such thoughts.

He was just about to walk back into the living room when he heard the light whimpering of what sounded like a baby.

Before he had the chance to ignore the sound and be on his way, he felt something that caught his attention.

He walked back to the room where the baby was sleeping and drew closer to the door, with the want to open it. He did not understand why, but there was something stirring up his senses, and it was in this room.

He resisted the urge to place his hand on the screen to open the door, but then he let curiosity get the best of him.

His leather-covered hand pushed itself on the screen, and the door shot open, with only the quick sound of forced air escaping from it.

The room was dark, cool, and filled with feminine white pieces of furniture, including a rocking chair in a corner next to the window and a small crib that was centered in the middle of the room.

Maul allowed himself into the room as he sensed a disturbance in the Force. He knew exactly where this disturbance was but could not believe it.

He walked over to the crib and stared down at the sleeping baby. The baby was resting on its back with its arms spread out to either side.

A small pink blanket covered the bottom half of the baby's body, to keep warm in the cool room.

'_This infant wills the Force,'_ Maul thought to himself in an interested fashion.

He put his right hand over the baby to feel the Force surrounding it.

He shut his eyes and the soft embrace of the infantile Force, neither light nor dark, numbed his fingers. It amazed him, how strong the Force was within this little person.

In an instant, he could feel something small grab a hold of his index finger. He broke out of his momentary trance and cocked an eyebrow down at the little hand that had wrapped itself around his finger.

The baby opened her eyes and made a soft gurgle up at Maul.

He didn't know what to do- he couldn't kill it. That's not what he was there to do. If he had killed it, it would be an addition to what had gone wrong with the plan…

The baby then reached for another finger, making gurgling and cooing sounds.

Maul became annoyed and pulled his hand away from the baby, which in turn caused her to make the same light whimpering that he had heard just a little while ago.

He turned his head quickly to the door and saw that he hadn't closed it and that the woman down the hall might wake up from the baby's sounds.

He then put his face down into the crib right over the baby's face, glaring his yellow eyes at her small brown ones.

"Shut up," he whispered and pulled his hand over her face. He used means of persuasion to make the baby tired.

The baby made a tiny fuss with faint, incomprehensible murmuring sounds and then made a big yawn.

Maul watched as the baby went right back to sleep and her arms stretched out to where he found them before she woke up.

Maul froze and felt another disturbance in the Force. This time, it was not another Force-wielder, but a terrible omen. He could sense that he had been completely wronged… but he didn't understand why or how… until he came to a realization.

He could sense that a group of people were coming up to that level.

His head turned violently around and he dashed out of the room, slamming his hand on the screen to shut the door to the room that the baby was in.

Just as he turned away from the screen, a cold breeze seemed to hit his core and made him look up in utter disbelief.

A dark figure lunged at him with a blue lightsaber, almost causing him to lose balance on his feet.

The Sith powered his own saber up just in time and blocked the attack, which would have left him headless.

He growled as he pushed the figure away from him, shoving against the blue lightsaber with his own.

Maul could sense the darkness of the Force that this person wielded. He knew that he couldn't have been a Jedi, so that must have made him a dark Jedi.

He had no time to think on it as his would-be assassin came again for another attack.

The mysterious man jumped over Maul, hoping to get a good fatal stab from behind.

It was a good thing, for Maul himself, that he was experienced in the art of battle.

As the assailant landed on his two feet in preparation for the attack, Maul threw him back with the Force. The assassin fell backward and rolled violently until he was thrown against the Queen's bedroom door.

The baby in the closed off room began to cry loudly, as it had been woken from its forced slumber.

The woman that was sleeping in the room, where Maul's attacker was currently slumped in front of, woke up in a panic.

It was Maul's turn to attack, and he did it with an extreme want to rid himself of this new annoyance.

He ran fast towards this menacing character, while spinning the blood-red saber at his side, preparing to slaughter him. He was hot with fury and didn't think twice about what he was doing.

The assassin must have been experienced as well, for he leaped to his feet and blocked Maul's hit which prevented the Sith from splitting his head in half. The two moved themselves while shoving one another with their sabers.

Suddenly, the door which was now to Maul's right and the other person's left shot open, and a woman with a small, round face and long black hair stared in horror at the two men, and more pressingly, at the two weapons which lit the darkness of her hallway.

Maul quickly turned his head and saw the blue and red light displayed in her brown-colored eyes, just before his attacker took that instant to momentarily ignore the Sith and to set his attention on Organa's wife.

The blue lightsaber had released the tension from the crimson one and hacked in the direction of the woman's neck, which caused her to scream for her life.

But Maul wouldn't have that. He lit up the second end of his saber and maneuvered it a few inches away from the woman's face, just in time to save her life.

She cowered at the near-death experience that she had just had, and despite the overwhelming fear that had instilled within her, she inched past her savior and her attacker, and stumbled down the hall to make it to the room where her stressed baby was whimpering.

Maul listened to the crying that echoed off of the oval hall's walls as the two sabers grinded against one another, which displayed the soundless fury that resounded within the two men. Sparks of red and blue bounced off of the walls and danced all over the carpeted floor.

Maul tried to make out the other man's face through the glows from both of their sabers and the sparks, but the man had a bounty hunter mask on.

The assassin then took this time to quickly grab into his own robes. He pulled out a small object and Maul felt a slight burst of air hit his face.

Maul did not hesitate before using the Force as well as his own strength to throw the enemy into the wall. His back slammed right outside of the room that Organa should have been sleeping in.

The mysterious man hissed and snapped down his teeth at the red and black man that overpowered him with ease.

"Tell me your name," Maul gnarled in pure animosity.

The man did nothing but continue to struggle against the invisible wall that seemed to press down slowly, forcing him to meet with the wall closer than he wanted.

"Tell me your name, you bastard!"

At this time, Maul had lost control of himself and the fury that had built within him. His hands took hold of the man's saber and ripped it from his grasp.

After tossing it to the ground, he took the man's head and slammed it harshly into the wall.

"Who sent you," he seethed to his now bloodied prey. "Tell me or I'll break you."

The assassin let out a low-gasp that was highlighted with a demeaning laughter.

"If you don't know…" he began through a voice mask, but paused to take in another breath, "who seeks to ruin you…"

Maul took the man up by his neck and lifted him higher on the wall. He continued to slam the back of his head mercilessly against the wall.

"Who means to ruin me?" Maul yelled at the man, his anger rushing through his veins.

"HA!" the man blurted out, "Who _doesn't_ mean to?"

Maul could sense the number of guards that were currently waiting to get to the floor the two of them were on.

"Enough-" Maul snapped before he broke the man's face into the wall, one last time.

The man limply fell unto the carpeted floor, not showing any sign of consciousness. Bits of pieces of the mask he was wearing had crumbled down to the ground.

The Sith glanced down at the conscious-less body and saw a small portion of the man's face, but could only see that it was really tan.

Maul knew that there would only be a few seconds for him to get out of there without being seen.

The Sith ran back down the hall and dashed through the living room just as the elevator doors opened. He ripped out the ear piece that had displayed nothing more than silence for the past few, hectic minutes.

He leapt through the opening that his energy disrupter gun had created and used the Force to will the four stabilizers to him. They flew into his right hand and the screen became whole once more.

Just as the lights in the hallway turned on and four security guards with blasters in hand ran into the living room, he had already jumped.

Everything right now seemed to make no sense.

How did they know he was up there? Why would Sidious tell him to go kill Organa that specific day when he wasn't even in the system? Who was this man that was, apparently, sent to kill him? And especially, who had sent him?

He thought about it and denied the most possible answer to each of the questions. He did not want to admit to actually believing it and he really couldn't believe it, but no matter how hard he tried to deny it, it seemed as though he came back to the same conclusion.

His boots hit the ground and he quickly walked into a shadowed area behind a building across the way from the senator's home.

He looked back up to the balcony and his eyes glowed with rage and bewilderment. He did not see any of this treachery coming. He should have…

He remembered that he had taken his headphone out of his ear and looked down in his left hand. The little earpiece was nothing but little bits of metal now. He had been so adrenaline-filled the past few minutes that he crushed it, not knowing his own strength for that time.

The only thing that he was certain about was the fact that the baby he had encountered had the same amount of Force willed to it as one other person that he had run into a long time ago; a young boy from Tatooine that was now a Sith lord.

'_Anakin Skywalker…'_

Both Farkas and Brann had made their way into the first floor of the Bail's building, but not without having to beat a few guards in the process. They hadn't stepped in to the office for a moment before they were stopped by means of several guns pointed at their faces.

Seven guards, dressed in plum-colored armor and wardrobe, were scattered across the circular entrance way against walls, atop of furniture, and flat on the floor- all with bloodied faces and some with black eyes and broken noses.

"This is getting ridiculous," Farkas complained, while running towards a door near the opposite end of the entrance. "Where are all of the bloody guards!"

"What, you want to fight some more?" Brann hissed in a whisper-like voice.

The Bothan entered through the automatic opening that the door allowed, and found a guard huddled in what looked like a storage room filled with different models of long-rifles as well as containers that housed several cans of repellant foam.

The guard looked a bit young, but since he had one of the long-rifles pointed right at Farkas's brown face, the Bothan froze, as well as Brann who had just made it into the room.

"Stand back!" the young man shakily exclaimed.

"Boy, you don't stand a chance," Farkas threatened. "Just tell us which floor Organa is on, and we might spare you."

"You… You're here to kill Queen Organa and the royal Princess!"

"What are you talking about, fool!" Farkas exclaimed.

"Someone betrayed you! He called us and told us what your plan was!"

"What in the Hell are you talking about," Brann growled in a vicious whisper.

"We don't want anything to do with her- I am speaking of the First Chairman of Alderaan!" Farkas answered.

"B-b-but, he isn't here…?"

Farkas and Brann faced one another, alarmed with the man's answer.

Then, the sounds of doors opening commenced, and the both of them realized that more guards had entered the building. Not to mention, the speaker in Farkas's pocket had begun to vibrate.

"Farkas!" Brann hissed, as he had heard the vibration as well.

"Right- sorry about this kid," Farkas explained to the guard as he walked towards him, hurriedly.

"Back off, Bothan!" he snapped at Farkas out of fear, "Or I'll shoot you!"

Farkas grabbed the guard's blaster out of his hand and slammed it against the wall, smashing it into little white and silvery bits. He then grabbed the overwhelmed guard's head and knocked him out with a swift hit to the neck.

Just as the guard had begun to fall down like a rag doll, three more guards entered the room with their blasters aimed at Farkas. Their blasters were set to kill.

Brann immediately acted in defense of his companion and punched one of them in the face so hard that his nose split open and sprayed blood. As that guard toppled down to his knees, the two other guards didn't even have time to retaliate before Brann grabbed both of their heads and slammed them together.

"You did a number on that kid's nose," Farkas commented while the two of them gathered up some of the blasters to take along with them.

"He was about to shoot you," Brann justified after they sprinted through the buildings to get back to the cliff that the infiltrator was docked on.

The grassy hill leading to the cliff was finally in their sights, but the ship could not be seen; that was not a good sign.

"He isn't here yet," Brann commented with frustration, as they both used all of the strength in their legs to run up the steep hill.

"Then he'll be here soon!" Farkas barked as they made their way to the top, both grunting and growling while they took in breaths of air.

Farkas stopped and slapped his furry hands on his knees. He faced down to the ground panting ferociously.

Brann wiped the sweat off of his gray forehead and underneath his flat nose, and looked back down to the senator's house. He had finally been able to correlate the scent that he had recognized while near the building.

Just as they had gotten their breathing in order and after they had been pacing around for a few moments, Brann watched as a dark figure cloaked by a black robe was running right towards them in an unnatural speed.

"Farkas, that's…" Brann started but couldn't quite finish. He didn't know what to say.

"Yes, that's Lord Maul," Farkas finished for him.

He figured that Brann was stunned by the speed in which this man could run.

"He is one to bring forth surprise from the best of us."

'_This is what the Force can do to someone…' _Farkas thought, amazed at the idea of the mystic power that was granted to certain individuals.

He almost knocked them off of their feet as he shoved them aside with the Force. He was so concentrated on typing in the coordinates to open the hatch to the ship that he didn't have time to think about the amount of power to use.

Farkas and Brann watched as a ship appeared out of nothing almost on cue as Maul jumped onto the platform of the opened shaft, greeted by a rifle-toting black droid, who pointed the gun past the other men's heads, firing at something…

They hurried themselves on board the ship, weary of the droid, and Maul quickly shut the platform so that he could put the ship in stealth-mode again.

"HK-48, back down," Maul ordered.

HK-48 did as he was told and went into a small room to the left of where Farkas was standing, at the moment.

Maul went to the upper deck and typed in the coordinates to go back to Coruscant and started the engine, and the ship lifted off of the ground.

The other two ran up behind Maul, who was sitting at the control room and was staring out at what looked like a battalion of security guards for the senator.

They all were running towards what to them looked like nothing, but at the same time, something. They started shooting their blasters off in all directions, until they could find where the beams reflected. When they had finally located the invisible ship, it was too late.

Scimitar launched up into the air like a bullet, blasting its way out of the gravitational pull of Alderaan.

Farkas wanted to ask Maul what had happened and why, but the Sith really didn't look like he wanted to be talked to at the moment.

Maul was filled with all of the emotions that cause most people to go insane with confusion and was completely enraged with how the mission ended up playing out.

He had felt utterly betrayed by the man who said that Organa would be there for him to kill.

"Lord Maul," Farkas finally had the gall to speak to the angered Sith. "Were you sent here to kill Senator Organa's family?"

Maul turned himself around, and looked at the already nervous Bothan like he wanted to rip his heart out.

"No," Maul ground down on his teeth, answering as calmly as he, at that moment, possibly could. "What gave you that assumption?"

"Someone made contact and betrayed the mission," Farkas explained to the heated Sith.

Maul looked back out the windshield of his infiltrator. Once again, he looked at nothing in particular, staring out at the millions of stars and planets that all looked like little speckles of light, dotted all over the dark universe.

"I was set up," Maul explained to himself, aloud as if he didn't care that Farkas and Brann both heard it.

The Sith was totally ashamed of himself for not having seen this coming, and right now, he doubted his master, Lord Sidious, and it seemed to be with good reason.

Maul got up from his seat and began to walk back into the elevator to go down to his room, so that he could think about things and to see through this problem, while leaving both Farkas and Brann with shared looks of confusion and a bit of worry.

Finally, he stood in front of the lift door and placed a limp hand over the down-button. The door opened and he walked in so he could make it to the lowest deck of the ship.

After what felt like minutes compared to seconds, the door re-opened and he walked into his small bedroom, hating the sheer look of it.

Maul paced back and forth, in the darkness, with his arms tightly crossed against his chest. His eyes were wide open, burning like Mustafar on a bad day.

He had become frantically hot and, at the same time, he had become engulfed with anger that he hadn't felt in a long time. The kind that he couldn't form into useful energy, because of the fact that he was stuck in the middle of space in a room that, at that moment, felt like the size of a shoebox.

He threw his robe off of himself and motioned for it to go in any direction with his outstretched right hand. It ended up hitting against the wall in front of him, falling down to the front of the bed, and then he pulled off each of his gloves and threw them down to the floor.

His fingers made their way underneath the up turned collar of his tunic, in an attempt to loosen it from the hot, moist skin around his neck. Every inch of his body itched with rage, which caused him to go into an almost feverish sweat.

All of the thoughts running through his head at that very moment tormented him to the point where he wanted to kill someone. He actually considered taking the lives of the two men who were now situating themselves in the floor right above them, but then thought otherwise.

'_I have these damn dreams dealing with the surgery and Jinn. I have a female Jedi housed in my room, because I can't deal with her rationally. Then that voice… and now this…'_

Maul sat himself on his small bed, which was sheet-less, to calm down. He put his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, letting his fingers pass through his off-white horns.

Had his master betrayed him? Could he do such a thing to his first apprentice?

Or maybe it was someone else…

No, it couldn't be. Lord Sidious seemed to be the only other person who knew about this, besides Maul himself.

The assassin… who was the man sent to kill him?

Did Lord Sidious have to do with the arrangement that had been made for the assassin?

Maul let go of his head and fell back against the stiff mattress. Once again, he looked up at the empty ceiling, in the darkness that was his small, cold room. The heat that had screamed at his body had begun to let down, which allowed the tension that he felt all around him to rest.

He didn't want to accept that he was slowly losing control of himself; his actions, his senses, his situation. For the past few months, he had not acted in the proper manner of a Sith. His thoughts began to wander towards things that he shouldn't have been thinking about, at all. He felt as if he was losing his mind.

'_Master… would you do such a thing…'_

He shut his eyes, so that he could enter a new kind of darkness. He wanted to gain control over himself and over his physical and emotional reactions to this situation. He wasn't even properly building on the anger he felt. He wanted to feel normal.

But instead of thinking of things that would get him to maintain control, he thought about something else that for some reason, relaxed him; that night three days ago when he and the Jedi were riding on his speeder back to his room and when she was wrapped around him tightly and when her head rested on his back.

As hard as it was for him to admit, he remembered the strange feeling that had overcome him.

He grew warm where her hands had touched him and where her head lay upon him. She did as well.

At that moment, the both of them felt comfortable with one another. Even if Maul thought he felt uncomfortable at the time, it was only because he actually enjoyed the feeling. She was so comfortable that she didn't realize how tightly she had wrapped around him.

Maul felt as if he was insane as he thought about how much he yearned to feel it once again. He had never felt an embrace like that in all of his life, unintentionally or not. Not once had he received a hug or a kiss on the forehead. Not once in his life had anyone willingly given him any kind of physical affection.

That night, the Jedi apologized to him for that feeling of comfort that she had given him. He did not know what to say to her after that. What should he have said? "Don't be. I rather enjoyed it…"

'_You fool…,' _Maul said to himself, _'Allowing your thoughts to wander over your enemy.'_

He closed his eyes and stopped his wondering thoughts, then fell into a definitely needed rest.

Darkness; it was exactly where he wanted to be. He was calm in this darkness. He was controlled and his fury tamed. It was just him.

There was nothing to think about in this darkness. Nothing to worry about, nothing to provoke him… This was his home. This is where he felt safe.

But, something made it into this darkness. Something invaded his calm, his control, his serenity.

A faint light seemed to tickle at his shut eyelids and a soft whisper beckoned for him to awake.

The whisper sounded like the same voice that had recently been plaguing his thoughts.

"_Let me sleep,"_ Maul practically mumbled, in his relaxed state.

"_You really should open your eyes now."_

"_Is it so important?" _Maul asked.

"_It is very important,"_ the whispering explained. _"Wake up, Darth Maul."_

Those words seemed to echo silently in his head, over and over again until he finally did open his eyes.


	14. Ripe With Decay

**(I do not own anything from Star Wars except for the original characters and original concepts shown through this story)**

HNNNNNNNNNNNNNG

I AM TERRIBLY SORRRRRRRYYYY.

Seriously. I got married and started nursing school. The marriage part is amazing and the nursing part very much worthwhile. However... both have taken up a lot of my time... as you can tell -.-

But I have been working on this chapter for a while. It's kind of "meh" (in my opinion, of course). If there are any plot holes, they are intentional. The next couple of chapters should be rather revealing of the situation.

And for the love of Thor, would anyone like to be a beta for this? I can read the chapters over and over again and still miss the smallest crap. (I can understand if no one will want to, because I kind of take a while to finish these bad boys... ugh.

Enjoy. I've already started the next one.

* * *

**Ch. 14- Ripe (With Decay)**

The zabrakian male awoke to the sound of beeping coming from the bracelet on his left wrist. He peered down at it, groggy from what felt like an overly long rest.

'_A transmission out here…?'_

He hastily brought himself to his feet and opened up a closet door. He needed a new tunic and pants to wear, for his current ones had been left stuck to his skin.

After he changed, he entered the turbolift. It shot quickly to the upper deck, in which he saw a red light blinking on the control panel in the cock pit. The message was encoded with a signature which was signed in the Aurebesh alphabet and the location was from Coruscant. The time-stamp said 20:00; the current time was 23:00.

He assumed that the message had been sent from the senate house he so intensely wanted to avoid. The fact that anyone there knew the encoding to his ship's transmission link caused him to become curious and he pressed down on the button which showed a miniature sized hologram of the female zeltron, Volutta.

Before he could think ill thoughts of the woman, she had begun to speak in a worried tone.

-"Lord Maul, you are requested with great urgency to return to Coruscant. A Jedi has murdered several of the attendants while you have gone and many more have been left wounded. We have so far been unable to capture him. Please return as soon as you can."-

The hologram faded out at the end of the transmission, yet Maul stared in the direction it had once stood.

'_A Jedi… several murders… and they weren't able to capture him.'_

He thought about whether the female Jedi, who was supposed to be held up in his room, had anything to do with this. She didn't seem to want to cause strife, despite her enslavement. She was also at a physical disadvantage due to several health-related injuries.

The sound of the door to the lift opening reached Maul's ears and he turned to see the bothan stepping quietly into the room. He sat down on one of the passenger seats and put his head upon the palms of his hands and his elbows on his stocky, golden colored legs.

Maul made a movement, and Farkas' ears twitched. He looked in the direction of where Maul had begun to walk from and they both watched one another, for a moment. Farkas was not sure if the Sith was more menacing clouded in shadow or when his features were clear.

"Lord Maul… something has happened on Coruscant."

"I know."

"Then you received a message?" Farkas asked, a bit relieved at not having to be the first to tell the Sith. "I had brought one of my comlinks with me, by mistake, and I woke up to a great deal of communication coming from what sounded like the outside. At some point someone must have disrupted the frequency...

Maul turned away, without acknowledging what the bothan had said. Instead, he went straight to the panel and slammed a hand down onto the hyperdrive control.

For a brief moment, every star that could be seen outside of the windshield spread into bright, white lines just before Scimitar blasted through space at its full speed. In a matter of seconds, the white disappeared into a dim, orange lit planet.

Farkas had been pushed into the back of his seat and the lift door opened, once more, to show a startled and very shaken noghri, who most likely had just woken up.

"We'll land in a minute. Ready yourselves and wait at the airlock," Maul ordered.

The both of them stood up straight and bowed their heads towards the Sith. They then both entered the turbolift and shot down to the next level.

Maul then made his way down to his room and picked up his robe. While throwing it over himself, he couldn't help but feel that whatever they found themselves immersed in after landing, it would be a much undesirable predicament.

He boarded the lift, once more, and walked out to see the two other men waiting to exit. They bowed to him and a subtle vibration informed them all that the ship had finally landed.

The airlock opened and the landing ramp extended at a downward angle towards the concrete in the hanger. All three of them, Maul first in line, walked down the ramp. Both Maul and Farkas showed a great deal of interest in the surrounding outer area that Brann felt uncomfortable with.

The hooded man stopped while seemingly fiddling with the metal bracelet he kept beneath his left glove. Having known that the noghri was clear off of the ramp, he pushed in the controls that sent it back up into Scimitar. Brann noticed, but kept quiet.

The hanger as well as the foundation around the building seemed oddly quiet. As he subtly examined the concrete flooring, there was a particular spot that seemed brighter than the rest of the rock.

Just as he was about to walk over to get a closer look at the flooring, the sound of a deep inhale disturbed his concentration.

"What is it, Brann?" Farkas quietly asked the noghri, who began to step towards the direction that Maul had faced.

The gray-skinned man had apparently caught a scent that had interested him. When Maul peered back at him, just as he was about to pass him on his way towards the lighter area on the ground, the Sith saw that the look on his face was grave.

Maul and Farkas looked on as the noghri got down on his hands and knees, to better interpret the smell that had forced itself into his highly perceptive nostrils.

While Farkas was confused at his action as well as slightly embarrassed that Brann had done this in front of the Sith, Darth Maul himself became alert to whether or not the noghri would figure something out. The more pressing matter was one of the characteristics of their species- having such an acute sense of smell.

"Brann, what are you do-"

"What do you smell?" Maul cut off Farkas' speech.

Brann's eyes went from inquisitive to somewhere between shock and disbelief. He shook his head slightly as if he were trying to figure an answer to replace the one he had found.

He turned around to meet the gaze of the dark man who waited for an answer. Whether he was patient or irritated, he wasn't sure. At this point, he didn't care.

"Blood."

Farkas joined the two men, concerned by the expression the normally emotionless man gave.

"Whose blood," Maul pushed.

"There are three blood types…"

Brann stood up, as straight as he was able, with clenched fists on either side of him.

"One is my brother's."

Before any of the men had time to react to the hissed statement, several forms had made their way over to them. All three turned and saw Rokujou, who was closely followed by Volutta and Tanran. The latter's face was turned away from everyone. He seemed to travel with a slight limp. Several clone troopers had remained in the bunker.

"Lord Maul," Volutta began, dressed in a dark nightgown with a matching silk robe, wrapped around her waist. "Did you receive my message?"

Without answering, Maul asked, "Have you identified the person who attacked the residence?"

He noticed a very slight notion between the three, as if they had all wanted to glance at each other for a proper response.

"No… not yet, Sir," Rokujou informed.

"And what of the victims?"

"My Lord," Volutta started, "it was terrible. He came from nowhere and just… hacked into whoever was in his way."

Volutta took a finger and wiped a stray tear away from her cheek.

"I take that one of those who was killed was Corporal Himmel," Maul stated quietly and darkly, uncaring of Volutta's display of emotion.

Out of the three, the only one to give any sort of indication as to the question that was asked was Tanran, who slowly nodded his head.

Farkas remained behind the Sith Lord, unbelieving towards what he had just seen the male twi'lek do.

'_Himmel…'_

"Lord Maul… how did you…"

Maul inclined his head, without feeling the need to motion towards Brann any further. He didn't care to answer the woman's question.

That's when he realized that he could not sense the female Jedi.

'_Fantastic...'_

"Take me to the dead," Maul ordered.

* * *

Down on what must have been the lowest floor of the building, several people stood in a room that was kept at a low temperature. The walls were bland and white and the wall farthest into the room was covered in metal drawers that were large enough to store adult corpses.

In the middle of the room were six tables, all of which appeared to have a body resting on them. All of the bodies were covered by a white sheet.

The smell of death was heavy and festered its way into the nostrils of the three men who had only returned minutes ago.

Darth Maul waited patiently as a clone-medic began to lift the sheets away from the faces of each corpse. The first to be shown was a bald man whom he recognized as a guard who had been attended to by Volutta before Maul had broken every bone that he could sense in the male twi'lek's wrist.

The next was a noghri with a rather large scar that had gone from his forehead, nose and lip. Maul could tell that Brann had left the room at this instant, intentionally or unintentionally slamming his hand onto the control screen for the door to open. Farkas remained still, shocked by the sight of a man that he had grown somewhat close to.

As Maul expected, the next to be revealed was the youngest noghri, Himmel. Out of the few he had seen thus far, Himmel almost appeared to have a peaceful visage through death.

The next corpses had been two clone troopers, but the last body to be questioned and identified puzzled Maul. The blue skin of the female twi'lek that Maul had entrusted to care for the Jedi had paled and her lekku were flat underneath her.

He noticed, without having to see, that Tanran was not grieving over the woman's death in any way.

He remained still for a few minutes, as everyone else waited for some form of response. Farkas stayed quiet from visionary overload.

"My Lord…," Rokujou started.

After having been given reassurance to continue on with a slight nod from the Sith, he continued, "Though we have been unable to identify the assailant, we believe to know, at least, of an alias that the Jedi had used."

Maul turned his hooded head towards the Arkanian. Red and yellow met pure white, and he judged the man's words carefully.

"Go on."

"Our suspicions are pointing us towards one who was known as Shadow during the Clone Wars."

While Maul's eyes narrowed and a single brow lifted in curiosity, the bothan male who stood behind him tensed up suggestively. Maul would take this into account later.

"You've seen him before?" Maul questioned.

"While Lord Azazul was stationed on Felucia, we had a run in with Shadow."

Once again, the room was filled with nothing but silence and tension. After having made up his mind as to how he was going to go about this, he turned towards the group.

"Leave me with the medic and go about your business."

Tanran moved out of the room quickly, as if he was glad to be gone from the place. Rokujou left as well with Volutta following him closely, before she turned back briefly.

"My Lord, I almost forgot about the woman in your room…"

Maul didn't face her.

"The assailant took her and threw her off of the foundation. We searched for a body, but she must have fallen all the way down to the lower levels…"

Farkas' upper arms began to twitch in frustration. First he saw one of the only people he could confide in dead, as well as his youngest son. Then he saw the corpse of an innocent woman that he had cared for whose only fault was being attractive enough to be put into slavery.

And now, the one out of everyone in that whole damned building that had nearly everything taken from her, both physically and emotionally, had been thrown into the mess as well and might possibly be dead.

'_What the Hell are they playing at?'_

Farkas began to turn and leave the room when the door shut on its own accord.

He turned back around, confused, when he saw the Sith's right hand move back down to his side.

"You will stay here with me, and help me figure out what truly took place."

Before Farkas could move to make a bow, all of the sheets moved off of the bodies that they covered, to reveal the wounds that had resulted in their demise.

The clone-medic didn't protest but observed with caution.

Farkas' stomach dropped at the sight of the wounds. Each body had coverings over the genitalia, and in Imara's case, the chest as well.

Maul looked towards the clone and ordered, "I need to know the order of deaths- from first to last."

The tan man with no hair on his head nodded and retrieved a data pad from the other side of the room. He selected and unselected different icons, until six files were listed.

"The first one that was killed was the twi'lek female."

Farkas was unable to look over at the woman, whose pale blue face had made him want to vomit.

Maul, however, walked right over to where she lay and studied her injuries with concentration.

The first thing he noted was that there was bruising on both of her cheeks, but it was so light that one could barely catch it. He then saw that her bottom lip was slightly swollen on the left side and that there was a faint line that went from the middle of her lip to just below the bottom.

He then observed, without having to be thorough, a hole that went through the medial-left side of her chest- precisely where her heart was, now with a gaping hole and no blood flow.

"A lightsaber…" Maul mentioned out loud.

"How did you-"

"Considering the fact that I have impaled many with my own," Maul began, almost annoyed with the clone, "The shape of the wound is much cleaner and rounded than that of a blaster or any vibroblade that exists. Not to mention, there is almost perfect cauterization."

Farkas moved towards Maul, but still had a hard time with looking at the still form.

"Where was she killed?"

"On the 23rd floor of this building, in room 2382."

"In my room, then."

The clone nodded his head.

"Time of death?"

"1423 hours."

"Who was next?"

"Commander Lande."

Maul moved past the two clones and the younger noghri to look over Lande's corpse. Once again, Farkas followed, less hesitant than before.

Maul saw that someone attempted to behead the man, but the lightsaber that had struck him hadn't made a straight cut. Maul knelt down and looked into the wound, all the while moving the head slightly enough to be able to see that the spinal column and chord were lucky enough to both be cut clean through.

'_He died instantly.'_

"Where?"

"Just outside of the hanger."

"The same side that the balcony attached to my room is on?"

"…Yes."

"Time?"

"1520 hours."

Both Maul and Farkas looked up at the clone. Farkas was confused at the time frame that was beginning to form.

Maul was doubtful.

"You mean to tell me that the intruder took almost an hour from killing one person- who had no obvious ranking or ability to prevent him from going about his intention- to killing the commander?" Maul asked, his eyes beginning to slant.

The clone-medic brought his attention away from the data pad, and tried desperately not to look directly into Maul's eyes.

"Is there something wrong with that timeline?"

Before the clone had finished his response, Maul was already behind him. He placed his gloved hand on top of his right shoulder.

"Leave and go to your quarters. I did not disagree with any of the evidence you showed me."

Farkas watched in surprise when the clone nodded his head, with a face appeared to not be stressed in any way, and began to walk out of the door. Maul quickly grabbed the data pad that he was holding and the man didn't even flinch.

The bothan heard that certain Force users were able to twist a person's reality and mind to do what they willed. This was his first time actually witnessing it.

"He was weak-willed. And the abilities of the person who persuaded him previously were even more so."

Farkas turned back towards Maul, who was searching through the autopsy reports with a sensor stick that moved across the screen. He then set it down on top of the body of the bald guard, and moved towards a computer that was on the same wall as the doorway.

"All of the autopsy reports are null. There are no notes of bruising, or measurements of any wounds, let alone the area where they were struck."

Maul motioned for Farkas to go to the computer.

"Do you know your way through this system?"

Farkas nodded in absolution.

"Would you know how to find files that have recently been tampered with?"

The bothan gave the Sith Lord a smirk.

"Lord Maul, one of the reasons why I was accepted into this outfit was because of my slicing abilities."

Maul took that as a yes and stood back patiently, watching Farkas begin to put in codes into a data pad that he had pulled out of the chest plate of his armor. He then connected it to some wires he had found after having ripped off a metal casing on the side of the computer with his bare hands.

'…_An abnormally strong hacker.'_

While Farkas had begun to "slice" into the building's database to find any notes or results that had been edited within the 24 hour period, Maul had tried once again to sense the female Jedi.

He focused all of his energy into revealing the location of the familiar presence that the woman unintentionally exhibited towards him. He found that she was certainly not in the building and that she, if she was even alive, couldn't have been on Coruscant.

Maul wasn't sure what to make of that as well as Volutta's last statement about the woman having been thrown off the building… For if it had been an attack by a Jedi, why would they attack their own?

Farkas was just about done and had retrieved the six files in their original forms. Maul guessed that this particular clone-medic had actually done a proper job, but then had his mind warped by someone who was not well versed in the ways of persuasion.

"Here they are. Let's see… Imara did die first. And… it _was_ at 1423 hours."

He then sneered at the location at which the body was found.

"She was found in her own quarters, which is several levels below your room."

Maul glanced over the information and knew that this would be a lengthy process.

…

After they had gone through all of the files and Maul had personally inspected all of the corpses to be sure that the information was unquestionable, they had found out many things in two hours time.

One, Imara (28-years-old) had several contusions on her face and then on her thighs. After finding a lamp, Maul saw that the bruising on her thighs had been hand prints; as if they had been spread apart, thumbs prints axial on both thighs. Without having to become very in depth in his observations, he could gather that she had been sexually assaulted shortly before death. How she died was quite obvious; she had been stabbed through the heart with a lightsaber.

Two, Commander Lande (47-years-old) had several marks all over his body including bruises, cuts, and scrapes. He looked as if he had fought someone or several people before his left leg had been cut off with a lightsaber, mid-thigh. His beheading happened moments after.

Three, the bald guard (Name: Wylan, 29-years-old) had a more peculiar cause of death; he went into respiratory arrest. It involved the rupture of both of his lungs and to add on to the bizarre "attack", every one of his ribs had been broken.

Four, the clone troopers (both 20-years-old, both listed as privates in the army) had very quick deaths, maybe even completely painless. They both had been stabbed through the back of their necks and had at least been granted with the quick severing of each of their spinal cords; both by a lightsaber. Other than that, there were some cuts around their necks.

The only death that had been problematic for either men to solve, as well as the clone-medic before them, was Brann's younger brother.

He had some fractures in his right ankle as well as the same amount of bruising, cuts, and scrapes as his father, except for one long gash of a cut that they had found right between his shoulders and a puncture in his right wrist. But what he had died of was an immense lack of oxygen in his blood. The circulation of blood and oxygen had been interrupted by a poison that Farkas was still in the process of trying to discern.

Once again, Maul was sure to point out that someone who had literally drowned in their own fluids would not have had such a peaceful expression on their face. It was easy to tell that the others had their eyes forced down and mouths shut, but Himmel's body had become relaxed before his death, as if he had been forced into a deep sleep.

"Lord Maul, it says the same thing as the last couple of times- it doesn't recognize this as anything that occurs naturally in the galaxy and it doesn't recognize it as anything man made, either."

Maul didn't respond while he was forcibly placing each body into a drawer to prevent any further decay from occurring. After he finished he turned a switch and almost felt the cold pushing out of the drawers, which now housed six new bodies.

"Tell me, Commander-" Maul paused to face the bothan, who had now stopped typing, "-what you know of Shadow."

Farkas stilled for a moment.

"Shadow… was known for the ability to kill someone with a lightsaber in such a way that they felt no pain, as well as being able to inflict internal wounds onto a person without the need of a weapon."

"He was one to offer a swift death to every opposing force, as well as the ability to leave those he did not kill incapacitated."

"So you know of the person as well?" Farkas asked.

"I followed him for a few days when I had finished with a mission. He was meticulously difficult to trail."

Farkas frowned at this, while absentmindedly stroking the tuft of golden hair under his chin.

"Lord Maul…"

Farkas took the Sith's silence as approval for him to continue.

"Do you believe Shadow might have been involved in this?"

Maul thought about that for a short while; around three seconds.

"I don't believe that he had anything to do with Imara's death or with the deaths of the noghri."

"But what of Lande's, Sir?" Farkas asked. "His death was rather swift-"

"The Shadow would not have bothered with cutting off his leg. And he never appeared the type to take pleasure or interest in cutting off extremities."

"Then what about Wylan's death? He didn't die quickly."

Maul considered this for a moment, before he thought about the injuries sustained to the remaining, living guards compared to the death of the two clones as well as the injuries of the rest.

"I don't believe that he would have bothered to kill the woman, or even consider it. He definitely would not have assaulted her, and according to the blanching of the bruises, that happened right before she was killed. The commander's death was messy and not thought out and Himmel's is nothing but a mystery. The injuries that were inflicted on the clones seemed to immediately stop them. They most likely didn't feel any pain- minimal damage, but effective. The guards…"

Wylan died because his lungs had torn apart in his chest. Those that had been injured included a man who had been left with a malfunctioning stomach due to its lining having been forced out (according to witness statements, it looked as if he had projectile-vomited blood, bile, and tissue); another had a ruptured kidney; three others had multiple organs punctured and left bleeding and nearly useless; and one very unfortunate young guard had been left with the pain of having had almost every single muscle shredded until they could no longer function properly (with the exception of the heart, diaphragm, a certain amount of abdominals and intercostals, and the smooth muscle within his organs).

"The woman, the commander, and his son do not fit Shadow's normal pattern. The first two were done in haste and it appears that someone had actually relieved Himmel of having to endure what would have certainly been an uncomfortable death. If Shadow truly had been a part of this incident, I would guess that he had put Himmel into a comatose state."

Maul looked up from his thoughts and saw that Farkas was exhibiting signs of anxiety. Having remembered certain physical responses the bothan had shown earlier before the others left, he decided not to shy from finding an answer.

"Commander, I want to know what it is about the Shadow's possible involvement that brings you anxiety."

Farkas's right foot stopped bouncing and his chin lifted away from his left fist to face the Sith.

"Lord Maul?"

"I know that you are capable enough to realize that any information is valuable in situations such as this-" Maul stated in a stern tone, "-especially the kind that I am unaware of."

Farkas then stood up from the computer after having disconnected his data pad. While typing into it, he said rather bluntly, "Lord Maul, there is no such information that could possibly be of use to this case that I have yet to state. I will continue to research a possible match to the toxin found in Corporal Himmel's blood. Please, Sir- you've had a trying day and deserve some rest."

The bothan walked towards him and stopped by his side.

"I will meet you and explain in a short while, Lord Maul," he whispered.

Maul nodded his head both in an answer and an agreement. He could sense the group that was about to pass the very room they were in, and at least one of the people could certainly not be trusted.

After the murmuring voice of Volutta displayed a distance outside of where they were, Farkas continued, "It would be best to explain in the privacy of your room. I will clean up in here and report to you soon."

* * *

Maul had made his steady and slow way up to his room and made it even longer by climbing up the stairs. It was not only so he had a decent amount of time to think to himself but also because the zeltron woman had waited by the lift's opening. Whether she was there waiting for him or someone else was of no matter.

So far, he had gone up 267 steps and counting, so he gathered that it wouldn't take much longer to make it to his level. Still, he wished there would be even more steps to climb.

He had actually considered walking up and down the entire stair case more than once.

"_What is the bother, Darth Maul?"_

He paused only for a second and decided that there was no use in fighting it. He was obviously going insane.

"_No you aren't,"_ it assured.

"_People who are not insane do not hear voices in their heads."_

"_People who are insane do not believe that they are."_

Maul considered the man's reasoning and continued traveling upward. He thought of the voice belonging to a man, for it reminded him of the voice of a man he had once encountered.

"_Then tell me what your aim is in harassing me." _

"_Why I want you to hear me?"_

He did not need to nod in response.

"_Tell me what you think my purpose is and maybe I'll point you in the proper direction."_

Maul made a light scoff at the response given to him.

"_I believe,"_ Maul started as he turned to go up another set of steps, _"that you are here to steer me off of my given path- that you are appearing as an obstacle around everything that I try to accomplish. You are, therefore, my enemy."_

The Sith continued to travel, so close to his destination that he might have gone past it, had he not noticed something slightly splayed across the polished surface of the mauve steps. It almost appeared to be smeared in the fashion of a dainty right foot print.

"_I am not an enemy."_

Before Maul could kneel down to observe the substance on the floor, right across from the next set of steps that led to the entryway onto his floor, he furrowed his brows in disbelief.

"_I do not trust that."_

"_Coming from a man who does not trust anyone or anything, I'm not surprised."_

"_Then why must you continue pestering me?"_

Though he sounded calm, he was becoming curious as to the sticky, thick fluid still drying on the floor. He touched it with his glove and then brought his left second digit to his nares to smell.

"_Can you not sense her, Darth?"_

The metallic scent indicated that it was blood.

"_Can you not sense that she is still alive?"_

His eyes shot forward. If there had been any other commentary after that moment, he wouldn't have heard.

There _was_ someone in his room, but it was not the Jedi.

He forced the door to open into the corridor and ran down the hall. Not wanting to wait until his hand touched the screen for his door to open, he forced that as well. But before that could lift a centimeter off of the floor, his lightsaber had already ignited in his hand.

'_They're in my closet,'_ he thought to himself as he ran through the opening and then made a hard right into his bedroom, ready to attack any intruder that would so stupidly hide and wait in his closet-

But when the closet door was opened, there was no assassin, let alone a threat.

He found that his red saber was pointed towards a young twi'lek girl, whose rutian skin appeared purple under its light. He also found that she had dried blood on her face, some underneath her nose and some dribbled down her bottom lip. She apparently had just been awakened by the threat.

Maul recognized her as the youngling that followed the adult female twi'lek around. He powered down his weapon and raised an eyebrow at the petrified girl's face.

"Why are you in here?"

"L-l-lord Maul…"

He watched her as she tried to back away farther into the wall and noticed while she bent her knees that her right foot was scathed on its sole.

'_Her blood…'_

Her state was disheveled and her clothes, which were a normal set of tan maiden robes without the cloak, were ripped and torn. She appeared to have been attacked.

"I… I was hiding-"

She stopped herself and covered her mouth.

"From who?"

He knelt down and stared directly into her eyes, not allowing her to glance away.

"He…h-he was holding me d-d-down," she replied with a shaky voice.

"Who?"

"He killed her," she had begun to cry.

"Damn it, who?" he growled.

"HE KILLED IMARA!"

Maul thought only for a moment before things began to piece together.

"Tanran did this, didn't he…"

"H-he killed her and then came after m-me!"

Seeing as the youngling was on the verge of having a panic attack, Maul decided to stun her to sleep before his patience was tried any further. Her head fell backward and hit the wall softly.

Maul was not sure what to do with the girl after that. He truly wanted to be alone and without any unnecessary intrusions.

He knew that he had an hour, or less than that, to meditate on the situation with the one identified as Shadow named as the culprit. He also wanted to meditate on more personal matters.

'_Wait…'_

He turned towards the sleeping twi'lek and an idea hit him that was most fortunate.

He placed his hand on top of her head and the tips of his fingers brushed against her lekku, which were the very reasons why he decided to see into her mind.

As soon as he found himself in her mindscape, he was bombarded by clear, perfect memories. Visions of a green hued woman were prominent from what must have been the first years of her life. He guessed that her memories spanned all of the way back to the day of her birth.

Maul may not have been a huge admirer of twi'leks, considering how popular the females were to the majority of males of all races, but he was one to give credit where it was due. In this case, the fact that twi'leks had much larger brains and a far grander span for memory than many others.

As impressive as it was to see that she clearly remembered her first steps, he was not interested in any other memory than that of her most recent ones.

He skipped through the collection, not even bothering to take a glance. Her past was not relevant in his current interests.

'_Here it is.'_

...

The scene cleared as she had gotten off of one of the lifts at the building. She walked along a passageway while holding onto a small stack of clothes. She trotted along at a fast pace, as if she was in a hurry to get to her destination.

He watched as she made a right hand turn and stopped right in front of a door. Unlike the hallway that his bedroom was located, this hallway was more than just a straight walk through. This one stemmed off into separate hallways.

She pressed her hand firmly onto the security screen and stepped into the room. But after she made it through the door frame, she paused in her movements.

Maul paid close attention to the scene before him. The lights were off and the setting seemed quiet… maybe even a little too quiet and too calm for his taste.

'_What is this… this feeling?'_

He watched her as she made her way into the room. Her movements seemed odd, as if she was moving with a caution that a youngling would not normally exhibit. She seemed to be searching on the wall for a light switch.

"Imara?" she quietly called.

There was no answer. Maul could sense the youngling's concern with her not answering.

Her hand finally made its way over a light control screen and the room changed from dark to comfortably lit.

The room itself was somewhat small and unoriginal compared to the upper rooms of the building with tan walls and red carpet. There was a door at the other side of the room, which Maul guessed was a lavatory. On his left there was a dresser and a small view screen on the wall above them and to his right was a medium sized bed which was currently being used by the one the young girl had been looking for.

The girl put the stack of clothes on top of the dresser and turned around. She became more lax when having found her guardian resting in their bed, and she began to disrobe and take off her shoes.

"Imara, I got the dirty clothes from Uriael. Should I send an order to have them washed by the laundroids?

When the woman did not respond, the girl sighed and climbed up onto the bed and crawled next to her.

"Imaaaaara," she said playfully.

No response.

"Imara?"

None.

The girl became anxious and touched the woman's shoulder. Almost immediately, she flinched away.

'_She must have already died,'_ Maul thought to himself.

The girl, trembling from what must have been a rush of adrenaline coursing through her body, shakily moved to touch her again. After pressing her hand firmly against her shoulder, she appeared to be distressed. She threw the sheets off of her companion and screamed.

She appeared almost the same as when Maul saw her last.

The youngling began to cry while cradling the woman's face, which still had a depth of color to it. She stayed like this for mere moments, not having noticed the other person who had begun to lurk towards her.

"Such a pity, for she was such a beautiful schutta."

The girl turned quickly and froze when she saw the tan twi'lek male standing at the end of the bed. His already piercing red eyes were lidded and his speech sounded slower and more emphasized.

'_The bastard was drunk.'_

The girl first noticed the lightsaber pinned up on his right hip.

"What did you do to her…?"

"What I wanted to."

"What did you do to her?"

The girl, surprisingly, leapt at the man and went straight for his lekku.

"Unafa ni na yake wewe sheta!"

As she began to speak Ryl while punching Tanran at the base of his left lekku, which clearly caused him tremendous pain and discomfort, Maul was fortunate to understand from years of learning the language when he was younger.

"What did you do to her you devil!"

"Kupata bali ya mi wewe kidogo sherati!"

"Get off of me you little whore!"

He then grabbed her by her own lekku which caused her to momentarily cease moving before he backhanded her face.

Tanran maintained his hold on her headtail, even after she lost balance from the pain, and then threw her back first onto the floor.

The man shook his head as if to clear his vision, but then an awful grin formed on his face.

"Playing hard to get is not wise to do to your master."

Maul, though submersed in another being's mind, immediately went on edge.

'_I am going to kill that insolent motherfucker.'_

The male got down on top of the girl and began to harrass her, but not without a struggle. She kicked and flailed her arms and elbows as much as she could. She may not have had an inkling of an idea as to what his true intentions were, but she was defending herself regardless.

"Get off of me, you ass!"

"Learn your damned place!"

Right at the moment where the man had begun to pull her pants down at the waist, the girl's eyes became wide with fear. Whether it was because her instincts cued her in on the danger of what was to come or because she had finally understood the reasoning of Tanran staying in the room after he had killed her guardian... reality set in.

Within her mind, she could not help but to react in a way that she found to be once familiar.

Maul watched the scene play out. He did not understand why she placed her hands flat against his chest until he saw Tanran shoved through the air. His back and head made contact with the ceiling.

It perplexed him, not only the fact that the youngling had just displayed a Force push, but that it was as powerful as it was; the ceiling had cracked and small shards of its material littered the red carpet. It was as if this was not the first time she had used the Force.

He watched on with avid interest as she picked herself up and ran for the door, while barefoot and bleeding. She decided against the turbolift immediately, for there was a camera in one of its corners.

'_Cameras...'_

Maul then wondered if there were any in his room.

The girl ran up the stairs, not faltering in speed despite her increased respirations. She sped onward and upward, as if the very monster she was running from was not still gathering his drunken self several floors below.

Just as she was coming closer to the floor that she wished to exit upon, her foot had just caught the very edge of the next step. She then seethed.

She stepped down lightly onto that step and hissed in pain again. When she lifted up her foot to inspect, she saw that a small piece of what looked like a rock was lodged into the sole. She did not notice the bloody, partial imprint she had left on the floor.

She began to continue on upward, not caring for the pain she felt when putting any amount of pressure onto that particular foot. As she made her way to the door that had a lit "23" above it, she paused.

The girl could sense that the predator currently interested in her was making his way into the turbolift downstairs.

She began to run past the door, down the hall, towards what Maul recognized as his quarters. After placing her hand on the screen, the door opened to reveal an on guard noghri and the now long lost Jedi prisoner. The Jedi had already made her way to the door to calm the girl.

"Safi, just breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth," she said in a relaxed tone, despite the sobbing youngling, while knealing to her level.

"He k-killed her!"

Uriael glanced over at Himmel, who remained cautious by the door while readying his blaster.

"Safi, what did he do to you?"

She exhaled.

"He attacked me. H-he must have been in the room w-waiting."

The Jedi took off a plain white shirt that she had been wearing, leaving only a gray tank with black leggings that hugged her calves. She then began to softly wipe off the still dripping blood on the youngling's face.

"He was probably drunk," the noghri stated through a whispered tone.

The girl nodded her head slowly, doing her best not to allow her emotions to course through again.

"Safi, how were you able to get away?"

She looked up at the Jedi and was surprised to see worry imprinted on her features. But there was also something else there...

The Jedi had felt the surge of the Force while meditating and was able to link it to the girl in front of her.

Maul, while listening and watching the memory play out, had currently become very interested in the Jedi's appearance. For one, the most striking feature was the lack of a certain aspect of her that he had not cared for; Azazul's scars.

'_She had dealt with them just before I left.'_

Secondly, she apparently had been treated kindly, for her skin was no longer pale but featured a slight glow. The bags under her eyes were no longer apparent and overall she looked less like a tortured captive.

Through Maul's distracted thoughts, the youngling having thrown her arms around the Jedi's neck and shoulders brought him back to the situation.

"I'm sorry I didn't say anything sooner, Master Lumen!"

Everyone in the room became silent. Himmel turned with a cocked eyebrow and peered over at the two females. Uriael was somewhat stunned and had a delayed reaction towards the twi'lek's embrace.

"Which... which clan were you a part of?"

"Hawkbat."

Uriael immediately held on tighter to the youngling who was, apparently, a Jedi initiate.

Before Maul could consider that the girl had been a Jedi youngling or even feel an inkling of killing intent towards the embrace of the two, the sound of a drunk man yelling in the hallway for a "schutta" broke the moment.

"Damn it," Himmel cursed.

"Go into the closet in the main room and hide."

The youngling moved away from Uriael and saw how serious her face had become. What she had just told her might as well have been an order.

"Ok."

As she started towards the bedroom, Uriael cautioned, "Do not come out unless either of us comes to get you."

The girl nodded her head and ran, as fast as she could while limping, into the closet. As soon as she sat down, her memories went blank.

* * *

Maul sat in the middle of the living room on his knees in meditation. His boots and tunic remained on his person, while his cloak rested on a chair in front of the couch that the female youngling was currently sleeping on. She had yet to awaken from his Force stun performed ten minutes ago.

On the kitchen table was a pile of crushed mechanical devices that were once visual recorders- each the size of a small bean. After observing the young twi'lek's memories, he realized he had made a mistake in not having checked for such things previously. Where they were placed, there was nothing that could be missed.

There were three in the kitchen, five in the living room, four in the restroom, two on the balcony, and a whopping ten in the bedroom. From what he could tell from their placement and from the adhesive used to keep them in place, they must have been inserted just hours before his arrival on Coruscant nearly two weeks prior.

Maul had decided to take the rage that had begun to culminate within him and use it to power his meditation experience while he waited for Farkas. For some reason, the mixture of how much he wanted to kill Tanran and how much he wanted to kill the specific person that had placed one of the cameras in the general direction of the toilet seemed to be doing him just fine for the moment.

He focused upon his feelings and the darkness naturally in his heart and was almost brought out of his attention by a thumping sound.

Maul had noticed that the sound would make notice once per minute. It was not anything in the room, so he guessed that it was his own failing mind playing games with him. It was probably something similar to the voice that continued to manifest.

'_What was it he said before...'_

He thought back to the "conversation" they had in the stairwell. There was something the voice had said just before he sensed the presence in his room.

_Can you not sense her..._

_Can you not sense that she is still..._

'_Alive.'_

The sound danced across his mind and through his ears and held a similar rhythm to a heartbeat.

Farkas was going to have to wait for his audience.

Maul stood up immediately and reached for his cloak. After putting in the proper code in his bracelet, he made his way to the balcony and jumped on his speeder before it even made it to the edge of the balustrade.

...

After a few hours searching through the depths of Coruscant, Maul had come up with nothing in terms of a direction or a sighting within a 12 hour period. He checked the local bars, gambling houses, and alternative entertainment establishments and still no information had been gathered, even when forced.

While making his way to one of the lowest levels, he did make one important discovery that in his mind proved that the Jedi was alive after her disappearance from the senate apartment building; the missing corpse of Jedi Master Windu.

Maul stood in the same alley in which he had found the Jedi master previously. It remained warm and still had a lingering smell of death mixed in with rust. The bodies that he had seen before had continued in their process of decomposition and flesh and muscle had begun to fall off of bone.

There was also the smell of iron which had nothing to do with the machinery surrounding him. Droplets of what must have been day old blood surrounded the scene. Maul found a short trail of it heading towards the previous resting place of the Jedi master.

For a moment, he thought about the distance between where he was currently and where the senate apartment building was. He knew that it was one of the smaller ones and not as close to the senate building, where he was closest to at the present time.

If the blood spattered on the ground was the female Jedi's, that would mean that she had traveled around 350 meters while wounded. Though there was a short trail of blood on the floor, it was heavily concentrated.

Observing the area around him, only lit by the lights in buildings in the level just above, he noted that someone could have easily made their way through the nightclub alleys so as not to travel within the dark.

'_There may be more of the trail up above.'_

He made his way to the next level, which left him in front of a building that he was certain was a gentlmen's club. Some of the people, made up of a variety of races, quickened their pace as they walked by the hooded figure, while others remained leaned up against the building inhaling their death sticks.

Once again, the smell of blood was apparent. As he made his way to a new trail, he noted that the now smeared droplets were spaced out more, as if the person bleeding had been moving at a faster pace.

The direction it had begun to take him was north of the Senate District. As he looked over in the direction, he began to feel drips of water land on his hood.

The spires of the abandoned Jedi Temple were somehow visible even at the lower level he was on.

...

As he ascended the steps of the large and ancient building, the rain had increased in volume. Fortunately he had been able to follow the blood trail enough to know for certain that this was the destination.

He prefered the weather, since it was harder for outsiders, specifically clones, to get a visual of someone breaking in. Though in all honesty, there was nothing blocking his entry.

He began to walk through the cavernous entryway and there was an intense feeling of betrayal and loss. He could sense the number of beings that had been killed within the very area that he was at.

The floors were covered in dust and debree, and the yellow flooring of the steps he walked on had lost their glossy affect. The air was stale and thick with tension from the Force. He could sense its despair at having lost so many that had its will.

It was as if the building itself had died along with its inhabitants. The feelings were dense, yet Maul ignored them out of apathy. All he was interested in was finding the woman.

He felt himself wandering more than he should have, for he was unable to sense anything alive. For all he knew, if he ended up finding her, she would be nothing more than a dead body.

Sweat had once again collected under his collar, and it had begun to agitate him.

'_Where the Hell is she?'_

As he walked through towards the center of the building's entry level, he noticed several turbolifts that must have been out of service since the end of the Clone Wars. Five were arranged in a way that they made a four corner shape with one in the middle.

'_The spires...'_

He found several dried drops of blood leading to one particular lift. Only now did he realize that he had not noticed the blood before.

Sure that he would find time to reprimand himself later, he went to the lift and noticed that there was a faint orange light blinking above the doors. Apparently, someone had overrided the power cell that controlled the building to turn that specific lift on.

Maul forced the doors open and stepped in, noticing the otherwise neutral colored floor which was stained in a deep brown.

Before he could press an input for a specific level, the lift began to move on its own, shooting straight up until it opened to a room that was shaped like a circle. The scene that he had come to contact with was interesting to say the least.

In the middle of the room was a pile of wood with the burning remains of who he guessed was Mace Windu. His arms were folded upward and in the slack grasp of his burned hands was a lightsaber. Whether it was the purple lightsaber that was once wielded by the man whose grasp it was in, he wasn't certain.

Surrounding the makeshift cremation in a pattern like the shape of the room itself were twelve seats, some a different style and size than the others. Behind them were windows that showed an almost complete view of the city that the temple was surrounded by.

He walked towards the remains, unsure of what he wanted to do at that point. Embers were all that stayed alive and even they were nearing their end.

His eyes wandered the room for a moment until he found the continued trail of blood that had led him to this point. To his left it ended behind the third seat away from the entrance.

He made his way over to the area behind that chair and saw the still form of the Jedi. Her back rested against the chair with her knees bent and her hands in her lap.

Maul knelt down and examined her. She was clothed in the same attire he had seen in the youngling's memory. She had abrasions on her face, neck, arms, and several on her bare feet which also had many scratches. Other than those, he could not see an area in which she would have bled profusely enough to have left such a long trail.

Her neck was limp and her head faced downward. Maul grabbed her by the chin and could feel the cold of her skin through his gloves. There were two thin scars in the shape of the markings that Azazul had cut into her. Her face was pale against the purple in her hair which had remained fastened in a tail.

That was when he noticed something just between her shoulder blades which were malicious in appearance.

He pulled her limp body away from the chair and had found his answer to her blood loss.

Both parallel and perpendicular to the spine of her back were several deep gashes that revealed red tissue which glistened from the slight light from the embers. The longest gash he saw started at the bottom of her right shoulder and ended at her left hip.

Maul was able to count nine and wondered what kind of weapon could do this. They were not cleanly cut and showed that there had been instances where whatever it was ripped her skin rather than cut through it. He could see some of the fabric from her shirt embedded within the wounds. The shirt itself still clung to her back by the chance of a few threads still clinging to a spandex strip at the top of it.

There was no question that she must have been in severe pain. Maul supposed that she may have gone into shock after somehow carrying the body of a person larger than herself nearly a kilometer, despite the many levels she would have had to travel upward from.

He took his left glove off and placed his index and middle fingers on her neck, just below her jaw line. With his eyes closed, he waited for pulse activity. After several seconds, he was skeptical of any attachment to the Force he still felt felt from her. Whatever life was there, it was so little that her pulse would not show.

Then, just before he was about to leave her be, he felt it. One pulse within a minute, but it was there. Rather than be slight and weak, it bounced against the pads of his fingers. He waited, and within another minute it appeared again.

He had even begun to notice the slight movements of her chest, as if she was breathing.

As he thought back on the symptoms presented to him, he remebered Tyranus mentioning something to Master Sidious about a Force technique that allowed the person to slow down the biological processes of an enemy. He remebered him saying that a person could even do this to themself.

'_Morichro?'_

For whatever reason, he could not fathom that this Jedi had possibly mastered such an ability. She appeared to be weak; she had allowed herself to get captured by people like Azazul. Then again, he truly had no idea how much strength the rattataki male had aquired during his absence.

He decided, however, that he might have underestimated this Jedi's powers. She at least had enough strength and will to travel more than a kilometer's distance on foot while having recieved such pain inducing wounds, and partly with a dead man in tow.

Rather than escaping with her own life and getting care for herself, she decided to pay a last respect towards a superior. Though, she may have believed that she would die anyway.

He gathered her still limp form in his arms and had her positioned so as not to place his hands on opened flesh. As he lifted her up, her head fell backward and her arms and legs hung downward similarly to a wet towel hanging off of a line.

He traversed back down to the entry hall of the Jedi Temple and noticed that the rain continued into the early morning. It was around 0650 hours and the light was unable to make its way through the rain clouds- perfect for him to leave unnoticed.

Bloodfin parked itself just underneath the entrance of the building after swerving through an area with abundant coverage, where its master had hidden it. The Sith walked past it at first, only to hold the woman out in the rain.

For a moment, he allowed the rain to run down her back to wash out the outer most grime and old blood. The concrete beneath him had then been covered in brown tinged water, occasionally litered with blood clots and the fabric of her shirt. No one would see any proof of them having been there after the evidence washed away.

Maul returned to the dry entrance hall, boarded onto the speeder and sat the Jedi in his lap. He then took off his somewhat dry cloak and placed it over the woman, only making sure her head was covered by the hood. Even though the hours were early, he had a gut feeling that members of the senatorial house would be awake and quite alert after the previous days events.

He took off in the dark and the rain, with one arm wrapped around the Jedi's waist and the other on his bike's control handle. While, racing through the Senate District, he questionned himself.

'_Why am I doing this...'_

The zabrak almost wanted the absent bodied voice to give him an answer, a reason for bringing her back to his quarters. He could have left her where she was to eventually die.

His feelings ended up telling him something on the lines of an answer. She may have had many answers available to help explain the events of yesterday. Whether he could or would find any plausible information from the community over at the complex was highly unlikely. What a sad day it was for him to trust a Jedi's word over any others in the vacinity.

He felt one of her abdominal muscles twitch, through the cloak she wore, from his contact. He instinctively tightened his hold against her midriff and glanced down at her face, which was partially covered by his hood.

She looked to be in a peaceful sleep, reminding him of the youngest of the noghri who had died just the afternoon before. How amusing to him, it was, to consider that maybe this Jedi had been the one to put Himmel unconscious.

Her legs hung off of the speeder and he couldn't help but notice how pleasing it felt to have a woman in such a position while riding. Also, the pants that she wore were forming enough to show off toned calves, thighs, and a tight rear end.

Memories of her unintentional embrace while last riding with him on the speeder and her touch from the first night they encountered one another swarmed his mind. As the speeder stopped on the landing of his room, he let out a sigh through his nose.

Maul knew that this desire building within him would become problematic if the Jedi was able to survive. He would have to worry with that later, though. An anxious bothan awaited him with what was, hopefully, information on whatever the Hell had happened in their absence.


	15. The Wretched

**(I do not own anything from Star Wars except for the original characters and original concepts shown through this story)**

Oh hi. What, surprised I put this up so fast? DON'T GET TOO COMFORTABLE WITH THIS!

Actually, I had a few questions for you readers... Clone Wars is starting to rip my life into pieces with this Savage Oppress character and saying that Maul is actually half-zabrak/half-human and what not (lol, I'm a geek). Before, this was not the case but it might end up being canon... *rolls eyes*

SO I was wondering if you all think that it is acceptable of me to continue on with my version of D. Maul which was based on his previous information rather than this Nightbrother BS (not that it is a horrible concept; it isn't helpful towards the plot though). Is it cool? Hmm? HMMMM?

I'm dedicating this MONSTER of a chapter to VoyagerGirl, AgniFox, Sammy Holzbein, RachoThePsycho, maiziii, and shabbacabba... for reviewing!

Because reviews are pretty fricken awesome. Just saying...

Oh, and RachoThePsycho- I am going to go ahead and use you as an example here. If anyone has any questions about the story, ask and I will give an answer :)

... Romance? REALLY? Though the concept of a strong, dark silent-type of man being swept off of his booted feet by a wounded, vulnerable heroine is a nice one... I'm going to say no. ONLY because if there is any kind of "relationship" built in this, it will certainly not be anything normal and classic.

(And yes Racho, I realize what you "asked" may have been rhetorical. Just wanted to use it as an example!)

Now to the story... this chapter is very much in lines with a MATURE-rated fanfic. Please don't be surprised by the angst, violence, and super depression. And be aware of the difference between what Maulie sees and what the "Jeedai" has actually gone through.

Enjoy! I'll try and get another one up here within a month, but I can't make promises. IRL sometimes has to take priority.

* * *

**Chapter 15: The Wretched**

If there was ever a time that the bothan guard known as Farkas wished not to be on Coruscant, it was at the very moment that he sat in room 2382 on the 23rd floor. He had been rather busy a few hours previous to this moment, gathering information and scouring any records that involved camera footage of what happened.

What many of the people in the building did not know was that it was filled with video recording devices. Azazul had made sure to keep an alarmingly efficient surveillance system on hand, specifically with making sure that their Jedi captive would not escape.

However, when Azazul decided to start using her for his own pleasure seeking needs instead of torturing her for specifics on designated hideouts for any of the escaped Jedi, the cameras were for more than just security.

While scouring through archives of visual files, Farkas had come across a rather odd collection of videos in a non-dated format. All security files were dated, as per the standard procedure within security. When he opened them up, he immediately wished that he hadn't.

All of them were of Uriael Lumen being raped and beaten. As soon as he heard her scream in pain while the rattataki was moving on top of her, Farkas could no longer watch. The files continued to play on, and Farkas could feel a sickening welt grow and fester within him.

Then there was a change. A new set of files that had yet to be seen by anyone appeared, and instead of Azazul and the Jedi, it was a man clad in black who seemed to investigate the area.

Farkas knew only then that Darth Maul's room had been packed with cameras. He saw when the Jedi first arrived and when the Sith obviously found out that she was what she was.

The bothan male noticed the difference between the two men when he saw that after the first night, Maul hadn't touched her. Certainly he had appeared as if he would a few times, but from the perspective of an outsider, Farkas thought it was mainly to inspire fear in the prisoner.

He got to see the night in which she had become sick from the failed pregnancy and then later on in that day, she had for some reason escaped; there was no footage of that on the balcony and somehow she evaded all cameras outside of the hanger. Hours later she and the Sith returned and even exchanged odd words with one another.

He pressed on waiting for the most recent footage to appear. It was boring and standard for a few days, which he supposed was very kind for the Jedi. Imara and Safi came in and out and would stay for hours at times, while Himmel kept reasonably quiet for the most part.

The videos from the day in question had been locked instead of deleted. Farkas knew that rather than destroy the evidence to prevent Maul from finding it that someone like Volutta would keep them intact so she could show Azazul of the Jedi's "impudence."

He spat at the zeltron's and the rattataki's names.

To unlock that footage was simple enough for a hacker. The fact that Azazul had left Volutta in charge of security at all was a joke. Farkas thought that all she was good for was sauntering around in heels.

He began to watch the now unlocked footage and so far there wasn't anything too interesting… except for the fact that Imara was not present at all.

Then, as soon as Safi ran into the room bloodied and distressed, Farkas' attention rose. From listening to her attempts to explain what had happened to seeing her refer to the Jedi as "Master Lumen" while hugging her tightly, he didn't know how to react.

To say that he was shocked by what that footage revealed was an understatement. As soon as Tanran had stormed into that room, all Hell broke loose within the building and Farkas was beyond words. He sat there for around an hour, watching what the cameras had captured not just on the 23rd floor, but also the landing below, and the hanger.

If Farkas had an affinity with the Force like the Jedi or Maul or any of the people at that place, he probably would have taken it upon himself to kill or seriously maim all of Azazul's men.

…

Now he waited in 2382 with a sleeping twi'lek youngling, whose future he was uncertain of due to the fact that she was supposedly a Jedi initiate, while pulling up all files on the day that would be of interest to the Sith. He began to put them in order according to time since Lord Maul was very late for their meeting.

Farkas wondered where the man would have taken off to at such odd hours in the morning when he noticed the balcony's screen opened up. He looked in its direction and had to consider and reconsider what he saw.

There stood Darth Maul dripping with the early morning's rain with a seemingly lifeless person covered in his hooded cloak and soaked to the brim.

Maul motioned for the bothan to follow him and he did as was requested, even though going into the bathroom was strange for two men and an unconscious body. The lights turned on and Farkas couldn't help but flinch away from the brightness. He had been sitting in a dimly lit room since around 0330 hours in the morning.

As Maul began to de-clothe the person, Farkas realized who it was and was perplexed and alarmed. The Jedi appeared different without the markings on her face.

"Were you able to find anything of interest?" Maul asked, unconcerned with the bothan's curiosity over the person he was undressing.

"Yes, Sir," Farkas answered, just before Maul completely removed his robes from her.

As soon as he saw the lacerations on her small back, he had to prevent his gag reflex from acting out.

'_It's worse than I thought…'_

Maul sent the drenched robe over to a corner in the bathroom and allowed it to plop heavily onto the floor. He then picked the female up and positioned her to sit on the edge of the bath, while facing its center, so he could better examine her wounds.

"Lord Maul?" Farkas said, watching as her body remained limp.

He looked at the bothan who stood on edge, confused at the situation.

"Though she may not look it, she is still alive."

"Oh…"

Maul put his attention once again onto the woman's back. The wounds seemed a lot worse under the light than they had in the temple. Now he was certain to see what appeared to be her ribs showing through some of the cuts.

"She put herself into a trance-like state when she reached the Jedi Temple."

"She escaped to the temple?"

"Yes, and on foot."

Farkas stayed quiet as Maul picked a loose piece of fabric out of one of the deeper lacerations.

"We need to clean her up and wake her up to answer some questions," Maul stated as he began to strip her shirt off. "But before that, I need to be sure of something."

"Yes, my Lord?"

"Do you know of the people who set twenty four cameras throughout my suite?"

Farkas stilled in place and shook his head, "I do not know who did, Sir."

"Did you know that there were recording devices placed in my room?"

"I only found out this morning," he answered honestly and awkwardly. "It's one of the things I wish to speak with you about."

Farkas quickly turned his head away when Maul had stripped the woman down to her bare skin, minus her panties, and proceeded to begin taking his own clothes off.

"My Lord, if you wish for me to come back later-"

"Quit blubbering, Commander," Maul chastised while throwing his shirt to the ground. "I am only taking her to the shower."

As he took his gloves off simultaneously, the bothan could not help but wonder what kind of person would want to go through the pain of all of the tattoos that Maul had upon himself.

"Go and wait with the youngling. She will probably awaken soon."

"Yes, my Lord."

The bothan exited and left them alone.

Maul took off his shoes and pants but left his underwear on, and then retrieved the Jedi into his arms once again.

As soon as he stepped into the shower, the water turned on. He forcefully made the temperature control move completely towards the red as to make it hot. Maul was not well educated in healing techniques, but had learned on his own that hot water could help sterilize surfaces including biologically.

He remained standing and held onto her in such a way that her back was facing the water. He understood that if anyone had seen the two of them that the position would have seemed compromising; her head rested on his left shoulder, her bare chest leaned against his own, and his hands were beneath each thigh to prop her up.

The Sith began to pull the Force towards himself, ignoring the feel of the hot water on his face. It speedily darkened and swirled within him, putting his body at ease.

He then began to push the Force into the unconscious body he held.

"_Wake up, Jedi."_

At first, nothing happened. He must have been standing there for ten minutes before noticing that her body was resisting the darkness of his own.

His brows furrowed downward in both annoyance and concentration. He focused even more strenuously until he could feel his body aflame with a surge of dark power. He forced it into the woman, uncaring of any discomfort it caused.

"_Wake up," _he growled.

Against his chest he could feel her heart begin to beat in a more normal rhythm than it had been for the past twelve hours, and her breathing with it.

The smell of fresh blood rose along with the steam and Maul moved his right forearm underneath her rear to leave his other hand free to move her tail of hair away from the now draining wounds. Though it was not the best thing for her to bleed again, it was a good sign that her blood was beginning to circulate at a normal rate.

He watched her face, waiting for some sort of response or action. There was a bit of color return to her cheeks and lips and her body had regained some warmth; from the shower or not was unclear.

The muscles in her arms and legs began to twitch involuntarily as the vessels began to widen from the flow of blood. He was even able to see some of the vessels slightly bulge in her hands and forearms.

All seemed satisfactory to Maul until suddenly, her heart began to race against him and her breathing matched the pace. He could sense that her body was feeling pain despite still being asleep. The hot water was probably no help to her.

He stepped back out of the shower and it automatically turned off. It felt as though she was never in the heated water; her skin reversed back to cool and returned to a moribund color almost immediately.

'_Where are those damned droids?'_

As if on cue, a droid with a cylindrical shape and a domed head made its way out of a cabinet and came towards him while the two smaller ones started to work.

"Here is a towel for you, Sir."

"Give me more."

The droid gave him the rest of the stack of towels that were warm within him.

"Are there any medical droids on the property?" Maul questioned while smothering her bleeding back with one of them.

"I do believe so," it answered.

"Then bring one up here to me, now, and make it quiet and quick. And bring me a bath robe," he ordered.

"There are robes folded in the cabinet. I will bring you the med-droid right away."

The droid scurried away, and despite its monotone and droll voice, it moved rather fast.

Maul willed all of the cabinet doors open and finally brought forth a robe from one of them. He caught it and placed it by his side, for then, while lowering himself into a crouch to lay her on the floor.

He started to dry her off and noticed that her breathing was fast but shallow. He then grabbed her wrist to feel for her pulse; it was also fast and almost non-perceptible. While he had a hold of her wrist, he noticed that her nail bedding was pale.

'_What the Hell?'_

She had the appearance of someone on their death bed. Maul had already dried her skin of water and could see the sheen of sweat build up upon her. He made sure to dry his hands off before he touched against her stomach to find that she felt clammy.

He lifted her by her shoulders and saw that she still bled. The towel beneath her was completely stained with deep red blood. He switched it out for another one and pressed the new towel even harder into her, to the point that it accidently shoved into one of the deeper wounds.

The amount of pain that the action caused brought the Jedi to semi-consciousness. Her eyes opened up slightly and she hissed from the throbbing sensation in her back. She brought her knees into her chest and began to shiver despite herself.

Maul tried to lift her up, again, to better put pressure on the lacerations but the Jedi was able to protest against him touching her, despite how obviously weak she felt.

"_Don't test my patience, girl,"_ Maul warned through thought.

She opened her eyes slowly, to prevent from scarring her tired eyes from the light. It didn't take much stimuli to figure out that she was on a tiled floor and mostly nude. The blurred color spectrum of wherever she was also seemed familiar.

The first thing she could decipher was the pain that she felt. It was a mixture of sensations; dull, throbbing, and most recently it had felt as though someone had taken a piece of glass and stabbed her with it. She knew that the pain was in her back and why.

"_No…"_

Maul ignored her as he peeled the towel off of her back, even when her face contorted from the awful sensation of material within such a tender area.

Before he could place pressure with another towel, two droids entered the room through the cabinet just to the left of the sink. One was the droid designated to that floor and the other was a GH-7 medical droid.

"Here is the medical droid you have requested, Sir," the floor droid said.

"I am at your service," the med-droid explained as it floated out of the cabinet with an attached tray of medical supplies in tow.

As soon as it saw who the patient was, he zoomed past the other droid and the threatening, half-naked man's stare to begin inspecting the woman.

"Could we possibly bring her to a bed? She appears rather exhausted."

Maul picked her up, along with the bathrobe, and began to make his way out of the bathroom with the medical droid following him closely. The other droid stayed behind and sent orders to the two smaller droids to do a second run over the bathroom floors.

While walking through the kitchen into the living room, Maul noticed that Farkas had remained near the youngling on the couch, while skimming through files on his tablet.

Before the bothan had even noticed that Maul had the Jedi in tow and was headed to the bedroom, Maul and the med-droid had already made it past the closing door. The dim lights turned on as he placed the woman on her stomach.

The medical droid began to scan her with green light. He started at her head and ended at the soles of her feet. He then began to do such tasks as taking vitals, measuring her wounds, checking capillary refill in her nail beds, and collecting a small sample of blood. After moving into a corner for less than two minutes, he returned and had begun to diagnose.

"Human female, 20s, has twelve wounds on back; specifically lacerations ranging from 20 centimeters to 50 centimeters long, 5 centimeters wide, and 5 centimeters deep. Patient presents with shallow breathing, pale pallor, cool temperature, and generalized diaphoresis. Vital signs measured; temperature of 35.2 degrees, blood pressure of 82 over 54, pulse of 120, and respirations of 26. Capillary refill is greater than two seconds and hard to present due to pallor. Blood test shows 40% blood volume loss. Diagnosis: stage 3 hypovolemic shock."

The droid had begun to detach specific items that hung from his tray. One was at first nothing but a small, metal stick but revealed to be a compact pole with a hook. He placed it to the side closest to the Jedi and then pulled out a plastic bag which had clear fluid within it.

"What is that?" Maul asked, out of curiosity.

"A hypotonic IV solution to help treat dehydration," the droid explained while hanging the bag onto the hook.

"Intravenous?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Is it necessary?"

"It would be better to have an actual stock of blood to transfuse. If I do not at least give her basic fluids, she will die within the day."

Just then, the Jedi began to try to lift herself off of the bed. Maul started towards her, as she tried rolling onto her back and caught her by the shoulders.

"Don't move," he said, shortly.

"I don't want it," she mumbled while trembling in his hold, uncaring of the fact that she was topless and exposed.

She tried to focus on his face but was unable to.

"It is not your choice," he said, his patience wearing thin. "Stay still and do nothing."

He released her and with no support, she fell back onto her front side. She went unconscious again and continued to breathe rapidly.

The droid took this time to quickly insert a needle into her right arm. He then pulled out the needle and left in a tube which was the port for the IV infusion.

After connecting the IV with the port and setting the infusion rate, the droid stated, "I am going to start packing the wounds. This could be lengthy in terms of healing, but I will stay as long as I am needed. I will inform you of any relevant developments in her condition."

...

Maul left the droid to deal with the Jedi and went back out into the living room. He did not seem to mind that Farkas and the now conscious twi'lek youngling saw him in his underwear when he willed his bracelet over to him.

He dialed in a code and positioned it so that a hologram of HK-48 appeared.

"Come up to my room and bring me a change of clothes. Bloodfin should still be warm and will come to the room automatically."

"I will be up shortly, my Lord."

Everyone was silent for a few minutes. The youngling did her best to not look at the nearly naked man and Farkas did the same.

Then, Maul made a hand gesture and the curved glass screen moved upward and the black droid, almost as dangerous in appearance as its master, walked into the living room with a pile of stacked clothes in hand.

Maul grabbed the pile and decided to wear something more casual. He picked out a short sleeved shirt that he would occasionally work out in and his normal choice in pants. He then pointed the droid over to where his room was, and HK-48 proceeded to place the clothes in the closet.

After Maul got changed in the bathroom, he made his way out into the living room and stood in front of his two guests, in his typical cross-armed stance.

Rather than start off with doing anything with the initiate who currently was doing everything in her power to keep from squirming under the Sith's apparent glare, he brushed her aside for the moment and switched over to the bothan.

"Give me what you have, Farkas."

Farkas had not been looking forward to the presentation he was about to make, but he knew that he had to.

"I first want to say that I have deleted any and all visual data that was collected within this room, up until yesterday. I was the only one to have seen the footage and even so, I merely skimmed over the film."

Maul nodded his head.

"While going through the files collected throughout the building, I found two locked sets of entries- one locked under Azazul's name and another locked under Volutta's. The stuff under Azazul's codes…"

Farkas glanced over at the youngling, obviously uncomfortable with saying what it was he found with a child there. Maul shut his eyes and could only imagine what sort of snuff films Azazul created when having his way with the Jedi.

"Volutta's stash of footage was what we were looking for. From 1500 on, there is about an hour's worth of data from this room, the landing of the building and the hanger."

Farkas then stood up and placed his data pad on the kitchen counter and positioned it in a particular way. He then pointed at the youngling and wiggled his finger so that she would know to walk towards him.

She passed by Maul with a lot of fear.

"If you would pardon me, Sir," Farkas requested.

Maul moved to his right and decidedly moved the armchair on that side of the wall and sat down.

Farkas then clicked on his datapad and a crisp projection of the very room they were in appeared on the wall above the couch.

Maul recognized the scene immediately. The youngling had already confessed to her Jedi affiliation at this point, which he figured Farkas set up on purpose. She ran into his bedroom and then he saw that the Jedi had made a hand movement towards the room.

'_She must have caused her to sleep.'_

He watched on and saw that the knight had persuaded the young noghri guard to back away from the door. As soon as he did, the door shot open, and the bastard twi'lek that made Maul's blood boil stumbled into the scene.

* * *

Uriael stayed sitting on the floor when the drunken man first entered the room, heated and on the hunt. Himmel was only a foot ahead of her, against the wall closest to the couch.

She could sense the fact that he was heavily intoxicated and decided to take things slowly as she could afford.

Tanran looked at her and couldn't help but smile.

"Uriael! My, oh my, aren't you looking lovely."

Uriael did not hide her displeasure at seeing him.

"Tanran, it would be best if you left. Right now," she warned. "I heard about what Darth Maul did to your hand when you disobeyed once before. How is it feeling, by the way?"

He took a few steps toward her and displayed a now healed hand.

"It feels alright, though that horned prick really did a number on it," he said, allowing his smile to turn perverse. "Though I'm sure he's done worse to you, hmmm?"

Uriael made no response to Tanran's comment. However, she did stay on edge when he began moving closer to her.

Himmel remained alert towards his movements and still had his blaster in his grasp.

"You know, little Uriael, I never did understand why Azazul has been so taken with you lately. He can't even stand to be with Volutta in bed anymore because he thinks that being with you is that much more fulfilling."

He kneeled down in front of her and cocked his head to his left.

"It is certainly making the Lady jealous. She _hates_ you right now."

"Well you can tell her that she can keep Azazul all to herself," Uriael snapped.

"That's Lord Azazul to you, little whore," he showed his sharpened teeth as he continued to appear more vicious. "How does it feel to be fucked by two men who you absolutely despise?"

She shut her eyes and took in a deep breath.

At the moment, she was faced with the creep that had killed Imara. There were many instinctual actions that she wanted to take in order to harm this man, but she stayed calm as best as she could.

"What are you doing here, Tanran?" she finally asked.

He looked around the room for a few seconds before answering, "Well, you see, I'm looking for my new play thing. She is acting like a prude, however, and has run off. Have you seen her by chance?"

"Who is this again?"

"Safi," he spit out, as if it was completely obvious.

"I haven't seen her since… 20 minutes ago?"

She looked over at Himmel, acting as if she was wondering if he had the same time frame.

"Yes," Himmel whispered. "She went down with dirty clothes."

"Who the fuck are you talking to, you disgusting creature?" Tanran seethed.

Himmel growled in response, but did not make a move.

"The only disgusting creature I see is you."

Tanran turned back towards the Jedi, and saw that her eyes were narrowed.

"Oh ho- you're starting to sound like you did when we first found you!"

He grabbed her by the chin and licked his lips.

She in turn froze.

'_No…'_

"I'm thinking that this time away from your master is bad for your training," he explained, while his smile disappeared and his features turned dark. "Maybe it's about time that I see what all of the fuss is about."

Before he could make a move in grabbing her hair, he felt a barrel of metal touch the right side of his head.

"Maybe it's about time that you got your drunk-ass out of here," Himmel hissed, "before I turn your head inside out."

Tanran didn't hesitate in using the Force to throw the noghri into the kitchen, where he landed on top of the table and growled from pain.

The twi'lek got up fast and made his way towards Himmel with his lightsaber powered. He went to stab the stunned noghri but was unable to move any further.

He stood, paralyzed and physically shocked, when Uriael had grasped a specific area at the top of his left lekku. His lightsaber dropped from his hand and powered down.

"Having part of your brain grow into such soft tissue as your lekku is a disadvantage that you can never seem to remember, Tanran-"

She pinched it even harder and he grew limp in the legs.

"-especially when part of your primary motor cortex is within them. I'm almost certain that I've explained this to you once before."

"You bitch!"

"Do yourself a favor, Tanran, and leave this room. Stay away from here and maybe you won't have to deal with having another broken hand or worse. You're drunk and you're not thinking clearly or rationally."

She lightened the hold that she had on his lekku and he started to feel movement return to his fingers and toes.

"Please, leave," she requested without a change in her serious tone of voice.

Uriael released him completely and began to walk over to Himmel to see if he had any injuries from hitting the table. He had gotten up and looked up at her.

His black eyes grew wide and he had almost yelled something out to her before the twi'lek grabbed her by her upper arm and threw her, with a lot of power, into the glass screen.

It cracked under the force of the throw and she broke through. She was somehow able to gain control of herself in the air and was able to land on top of the balustrade in a crouched stance. The sun was up high.

Before she had time to think, the drunken mad man had already begun to run after her with his lightsaber. His face was filled with rage when he attempted to hack into her neck.

She grabbed a hold of his forearm with both of her hands just in time to not get killed. However, the speed at which he had moved and the fact that he weighed more than her caused the both of them to fall off of the 23rd story of the building.

Uriael let go of him and decided that that moment was not a good time for her to pretend that she was unattached to the Force. She made it to ten meters before she opened her hands in front of her and pushed with all of her might.

Her body slowed down at an unnoticeable pace until she dropped onto the ground in a roll. She felt that she had gained some scrapes but nothing more. After moving to get up, she brought her attention to her surroundings.

A few of the guards and a few clones stopped whatever it was they were doing in the hanger and moved slowly towards her, with blasters in hand.

She put her hands up, with a mixture of calm and anxiety running through her. The sound of the loud Tanran had started on her left.

'_Ok… he's out of the room. She's safe for now.'_

A soft sigh escaped her lips and she got onto her knees. She saw Commander Lande move forward through the small crowd, receiving looks of annoyance from a couple of the guards.

He had his own blaster in hand, and also had it aimed for the Jedi who seemed to be surrendering. Both of his eyes watched her and were narrowed, despite the fact that his left was obviously blind.

"What are you doing out, girl?" he whispered in a harsh tone.

"I didn't choose to be out," she stated honestly. "I was thrown out."

"And who would be stupid enough to do that?"

Uriael turned to her left, and glanced in the direction of the man who was still wiping himself off with a lightsaber ignited in his grasp. He had started to walk over to where the group had gathered and spit on the ground when Commander Lande looked at him questioningly.

"And what do you want?" he asked.

"I want to know why the prisoner is out of the room she is assigned to," he explained.

"Because I want her to be," he answered with a smile. "I was hoping to play with her a little before Maul got back. Almost everyone else has been given an opportunity-"

"Save it. You are causing more trouble than you are worth."

"Better to be worth something than nothing!" he insulted.

The noghri couldn't care less about being bullied by an adult male over the same stuff complained about over and over. He went and grabbed the Jedi's upper right arm to help her up and wanted nothing more than to get her back inside and guarded.

As he began to wonder what happened to his young son, who was stationed in Lord Maul's quarters, he stopped when a lightsaber was placed threateningly between himself and the Jedi.

"What are you doing, Tanran?" Commander Lande snarled while his scarred face showed anger.

Uriael had stopped paying attention to the scene when she looked closely at the colors within the saber. She couldn't believe that she hadn't noticed it in the room earlier.

The lightsaber in his grasp had a white core and a light bluish-violet edge. It had clean edges and only projected a soft purring noise. It also wasn't very hot, but instead warm when close to the skin. It was nowhere near as deep and beautiful as Mace Windu's famous lightsaber, but Uriael was able to appreciate the subtlety of color. The handle was very much like her master's lightsaber in appearance; a simple, straight cylinder which was versatile in its use.

She remembered when she had found a crystal that she knew would be perfect as a primary crystal while in a cave on Ilum. Because she wasn't ready yet to actually construct her lightsaber yet, she kept the clear crystal with her always so that when the day finally came, she would be well prepared.

One day when she was sixteen years old, Shaak Ti had asked to meet her in one of the meditation chambers at the temple. Since Master Ti had become a member of the council a year earlier after Master Yaddle's death, Uriael had trained with her to a lesser degree than she had when they lived together for years on Togruta.

Her master had never openly showed concern for her in terms of overly emotional acts, such as hugs or worry. However, she did care for her and during that particular meeting she had asked her if she felt as if she was cast aside by her master.

…

"_Master… no. You should know well enough that I am very proud of your promotion. I always have been."_

"_Certainly, though, your situation cannot be easy?"_

_Uriael had thought about it and they both sat in comfortable silence as she thought of the right thing to say. Master Ti did love to ask questions and pose problems._

"_Master, it could be a lot worse. Right now I train under you, Master Tiin, and I get to go on missions with the likes of Master Unduli and Master Kenobi. I consider myself fortunate, despite the fact that I am not with you at all times."_

_Shaak Ti rarely smiled, but would do so mostly in the presence of those she was close to. She thought of Uriael as a younger sister and never had a moment where she was unable to accept her for who she was, even when they would occasionally disagree. _

_She smiled for her and touched her briefly on the hand._

"_I am also proud of you, Uriael. You have grown so much since your uncle and I first met you. And now I hear from Barriss Offee that you have taken a liking to healing?"_

_Uriael nodded and explained, "I do find much peace in being able to help those in need without a lightsaber. I am still going over anatomical differences between races, but I think that I may have found a calling of sorts."_

"_The Force will always guide you down your chosen path, Uriael. I can sense that you will save many lives indeed."_

_Shaak Ti then looked away from her padawan and her face gave a slight troubled expression. Uriael concentrated on what her master was about to say._

"_I also sense that people like you will be needed in the not too distant future. I am not sure as to the extent of these feelings, but I do feel a disturbance in the Force that is ever growing and dark," she stopped, and glanced back to her padawan. "I do not want to impose on you or ever make you feel as if you are still a child, but I do like to check on you."_

_Uriael nodded her head in understanding. She would never tell her master this, but she always thought of the times they had spent together as some of her more cherished moments._

"_Also, I'd like to say happy birthday my padawan."_

_She opened her red hands and in her white palm was a light, yet pretty violet crystal._

_Uriael didn't know what to say, except…_

"_Purple, Master Ti?"_

"_When I happened by it while checking up on the crystal cave on Ilum, I immediately thought of you. By the Force, I saw a vision of you constructing your lightsaber. I knew then that this was meant to be yours."_

_She opened up one of Uriael's hands and placed the crystal within it. Uriael felt an instant connection with the gem._

"_It also reminded me of your hair."_

_Uriael gave a smirk at her Master's teasing ways, and thanked her for making sure that her lightsaber would match her most interesting feature…_

…

She spent a month meditating in solitude with both of her crystals. Her uncle, Master Saesee Tiin, would be sure to bring water and foods by her door at least once a day for the few minutes that she would take her break. Not until her primary and focusing crystals were perfectly transformed did she stop, and only a week later she constructed her lightsaber.

Uriael knew her saber inside and out and had thought of it as a piece of her own person. She knew that if the drunken fool had tried to harm her with her own saber, it would short out just before it touched her flesh.

This did not change the fact, however, that it would not be as loyal to someone else, such as Commander Lande, who seemed to have gotten into a shouting match with Tanran.

"I don't give a damn as to who you're friends with- you try and touch her one more time and I will shoot you."

"HAH! Try and hit me with your stupid blaster and I will block it with my saber!"

She refrained from glaring at Tanran for saying such a thing with her right there. The idiot may not have even realized that it was hers.

Himmel made his way into the scene from the hanger and had his blaster pointed at Tanran as soon as he saw him staring his father down. He shoved past a couple of human guards and completely dismissed the bald-headed Wylan, who had a whip in hand and an eye on the noghri.

Uriael could not help but sense that something terrible was going to happen as Tanran began to back off. He shut the saber down and laughed at the two noghri.

"Alright! Alright, I'll behave. Now why don't you put that blaster away before you hurt yourself?" Tanran asked with a lilt in his voice.

The young noghri kept his blaster on his target, untrusting of the twi'lek.

"When you are out of my sight is when I'll put it away."

Tanran nodded his head and backed off even more. He seemed almost sober with his decision to quit his antics.

The older noghri let a sigh escape from his nostrils and looked back to the Jedi.

"Are you thinking of giving me trouble as well?"

"Like I said before, I did not choose to be down here-"

Uriael sensed the barrage of blaster bolts headed in their direction and pushed both Lande and Himmel out of the way before they were hit. She herself twist flipped and evaded seven bolts and then crouched low to the ground to dodge two more.

Through the distraction, Tanran had switched back to the offensive and brought the saber out again. He ran at her with the weapon only to be tackled down by the older noghri.

Himmel jumped back up to his feet just in time to defend himself against two of the guards, who each pulled out a vibrosword in place of their blasters. It was clear that the guards had no proper discipline in melee combat with their weapons, and persisted to making hacking motions towards their opponent.

Uriael watched as both noghri were able to keep up with the challenge of the fight; Lande had been able to evade Tanran's attempts with a lightsaber and Himmel handled himself with much more ease with two men who were armed.

Just as Himmel had sent both men toppling to the ground, he felt a sharp pain in the middle of his back. He hissed in annoyance and turned to see the guard Wylan posed as if he had just used his whip.

Uriael knew well of his vibro-whip, which could cut through the armor of a clone-trooper and cause immense damage to flesh.

"What the Hell, you prick!" the young noghri shouted, aggravated while trying to reach his newly acquired wound.

"You aren't the boss here, noghri," the man stated in a cold and deep voice. "You and your kin need to learn this!"

Wylan went to attack the younger male once again, but he had easily dodged the attack. The human, who was large in muscular strength, brought it back, uninterested in the protests made by two of the troopers behind him; they had started to run into the fight to hopefully bring a stop to the madness, and were unlucky to feel the crack of the whip ricochet against their necks.

He made his move once again, only to find that the noghri were quite a talented race in terms of melee combat. Himmel not only dodged the whip's lethal end, but had caught it and wrapped the first third of its length around his right forearm. The blade cut his wrist but he paid no mind. He overpowered the human and snapped the hilt of the whip out of his hold.

He had gained a weapon as well as the upper hand, and stood as tall as he could while slightly out of breath.

About 20 clones were now on scene and had their blasters ready. Since the two noghri were the ones left in charge, they proceeded to aim their weapons instead at the other guards, including four who had yet to enter the battle. Those four were sure to make sure their hands were visibly distant from their sheathed vibroweapons.

Himmel made sure to kick the vibroswords away from the two downed guards and kept an eye on Wylan, who seemed only slightly bothered by the situation.

Uriael turned her attention to Lande, who was now doing his best to stay resilient against two lightsabers; Tanran had pulled the second one out, which was blue with a white core. The hilt was slightly longer than her saber, and she was able to recognize it by striped cylindrical marks.

'_Aayla…'_

Her body filled with adrenaline and she ran as fast as she could towards the two men, but found that she was too late to prevent what happened next.

Tanran had used the blue lightsaber and surprised Lande when he sliced through his left thigh. The older man lost balance and was in shock as he began to fall down.

'_Damned blind spot…'_

That was his last thought before he looked over to his son, who now stood on edge as he watched the twi'lek darksider use the purple-toned saber to almost completely cut off his father's head.

Uriael collided with tremendous force into the twi'lek, with wide and intentionally angered eyes. Her hands were able to get a hold of Aayla Secura's blue saber and tossed it to the other side of the landing.

"Get off of me, Schutta!"

As she went to grab a hold of her own saber, which was in his left hand, she heard a battle cry from behind.

Himmel had dropped the whip and leaped at the both of them, his movement violently twisted by the loss of his father. He shoved her aside and commenced in pounding into the other male.

The noghri was able to get several debilitating hits in before Tanran had found a moment in which he was able to hold both of his hands against the younger man's chest. He then created a powerful and uncontrolled force push and caused both Himmel and Uriael to be thrown into the air.

The clone-troopers, who had begun to run towards point their blaster-rifles at the dark Jedi had been thrown back as well. Some were slammed into the ground and others were cast close to the edge of the landing, all at different areas.

Himmel landed on his back and lost his breath right in front of the hanger. He saw nothing but black for a few seconds and felt tremendous pain in his ribs and found it hard to move.

Uriael had almost been tossed off of the side into traffic, but had grabbed the edge of the landing just at the right moment.

Though her heart raced she did her best to make slow respirations. She was able to prevent her mind from scattering as she saw Tanran make his way over to the Himmel, all while laughing sadistically.

"You stupid freak! YOU don't stand a chance against the Force!"

He then kicked the noghri in the left side of his torso, which caused him to hiss in pain.

At this time, Wylan came over with his vibro-whip once again in his grasp. The two guards who had previously assaulted the young noghri had gathered their swords and started to kick the rifles away from the troopers.

The two clones that had been cut by the whip began to have a shouting match with the four guards who had since brought their weapons out in loyalty of their superiors. Blasters were pointed at those who were supposed to be allies and tensions ran high.

Out of the building came Volutta who had wasted no time in screaming at the guards, calling them "idiots" and "retards" for causing such a mess. She also yelled out at Tanran, assuring him that he was the biggest dumbass of them all.

"YOU IDIOT! You couldn't control yourself for even a few days? And then you had to go and kill her!"

"SHUT UP!" he yelled back, his red eyes wide with annoyance.

One trooper held her back as she tried to make her way into the scene, despite her protests and curses.

Wylan smiled at the downed noghri, all the while dangling the tip of the whip in his face.

"Aren't you lucky to be a test subject for my weapon's upgrade," he commented.

"What… are you talking about?" the bluish-gray man asked in a weakened voice.

"Well, I was able to find a batch of poison from Setan's lab."

Uriael froze while trying to pull herself up onto the ledge.

'_By the Force…'_

One of the afflicted troopers stilled and put a hand on the other's shoulder armor. His brother ceased in yelling and began to pay attention to what the guard had begun to say.

"It's from his staff. Apparently the poison, when exposed to skin takes close to a full day to kill the afflicted person. However, when entered through means of puncturing, it is nearly instantaneous."

He prepared his whip and cracked it against the ground.

"Tell me, does it feel numb where I hit you?"

Himmel tried to move but was unable to. Not only was his back numbed, but his right wrist was also. He saw that it had become swollen and had begun to bleed incessantly.

The two troopers had both only then noticed, through the excitement, that their necks were swollen and numbed as well. Their allies, with blasters still in hand, eyed their wounds in worry.

"You… you're sick…" Himmel stated in alarm.

"I think I'm going to have fun with you while you can't move that body of yours," Wylan hinted while preparing to launch the vibro-whip at the exposed and paralyzed man who shut his eyes in response.

Though he certainly heard the whip hit something fleshy, he did not feel the attack. Through his now raspy breaths, he opened his eyes, and was not able to contemplate what he saw above him.

Tanran's eyes grew large and his facial expression appeared dumbfounded. Both the troopers scattered around the landing and those grouped within the hanger watched on, along with their two brothers who had begun to lose balance. The other guards and Volutta also appeared to be stunned.

There above Himmel was the Jedi, whose body hovered over him by means of support from her hands and knees. She now displayed a mean and bloodied laceration on her lower back.

Himmel looked up at her in disbelief and her face showed that the attack hurt just as terrible as it sounded.

"Why…"

"Fine, you Jedi-whore- I've had enough of the drama surrounding your existence!" Wylan bellowed while continuing his attack, now centered on her.

The noise the whip made when coming into contact with her back was a loud crack heard by all of those standing behind the scene. The only one that heard the ripping sound of skin being torn was Himmel, who continued to stare up at the Jedi, watching as her face clenched from the impact.

Though he tried to concentrate, he began to lose his breath and the pain in his chest was severe. It felt as if his muscles had compressed against his lungs.

"_It's the paralysis from the venom. Your diaphragm is losing strength."_

He blinked up at the female, who clearly had tears emptying from her eyes. He was sure that he saw blood splatter from behind, yet the voice in his head sounded calm.

"_Can you hear me right now?" _he asked, his basic still coming out whispered even in his mind.

"_Yes."_

She opened her eyes and looked down on him.

"_Why are you doing this…"_

"_You don't deserve to be made a spectacle of before you die."_

She was honest and impassioned through thought.

"_We've done nothing for you," _he tried to explain. _"All we've done by you is toss you to the wolves."_

Her expression softened, and Himmel had never seen a human as beautiful as she was at that moment.

"_No one deserves to be treated this way…"_

Apparently the last attack made was the worst; the whip's blade had gotten caught in her shoulder and a large piece of her flesh was torn from her.

She nearly lost her strength and her forehead hit Himmel's with a thud. He had begun to lose consciousness and his lungs and throat burned.

"_I'm putting you to sleep, Himmel,"_ she informed, softly. _"You won't feel any more pain. I promise."_

His eyes became heavy and he had a hard time keeping them open, even when they filled with tears. The relief of pain only brought on darkness, but for some reason, he was unafraid.

"_Thank you,"_ he whispered, while thinking of his father and his brother.

His eyes closed permanently, and his breathing calmed down.

By this time, Tanran had pulled Wylan away from the Jedi to stop him from "ruining" Azazul's slave. The two trooper's who had by a lack of luck been accidentally struck by the whip had since fallen to the ground, having lost their ability to move and almost completely lost their ability to breathe.

Uriael could feel their pain. It upset her tremendously.

Despite the pain that she felt, she lifted her hands from the ground and repositioned herself to Himmel's right side. She sat on her knees and felt her blood trickling down onto the soles of her feet.

She bowed her head and shut her eyes in thought. She paid no mind to the argument shared between Tanran and Wylan, or the fact that nearly everyone around her had become anxious as to the outcome of the situation.

She instead thought about the twi'lek woman who had spent time with her the past few days. Imara was always kind to her whenever they would meet and had never once spoken of herself or her problems. She gave all of her attention to Uriael and was able to empathize with her situation.

She never complained about her own issues, even though Uriael was aware of how sadistic Tanran was and could tell that he had started to threaten her with her life and the innocence of Safi. Imara was raped time and time again, but was able to keep strong to protect the youngling and to not impose onto anyone else.

Uriael then thought of the girl hiding in her room, because she would be used by Tanran just as Imara had been and just as Uriael had been used by Azazul. A ten-year-old girl should not have been attractive to anyone. _Anyone!_

She then thought of Lande, who was killed for following orders and because his species was not considered to be up to par with the others. Everyone in that place thought of them as nothing more than sub-sentient freaks or creatures that were only useful as slaves. Everyone in that place was _evil_ and spent their days finding joy and entertainment at the expense of others.

The young man lying at her knees had tear marks that had dropped to the cement, which was wet with the blood seeping from his wounds and her own. Could anything other than a sentient being cry when someone who they thought would hate them spared them from a painful, horrific death; for showing them mercy?

'_No…'_

Uriael heard one of the younger guards telling Wylan that he had struck the two clone-troopers, who were consciously aware of their impending doom.

"Boy, that's why there are thousands more of them. They're expendable."

'_Expendable?'_

Then she suddenly thought of herself.

She knew that she wouldn't die from the venom that Wylan had laced his vibrowhip with. The reason why she had even been captured was because of that poison having put her into respiratory arrest. The only reason why she was alive was because Setan, the scariest being that she had ever come into contact with, had offered her an antidote after Azazul had nearly begged him to sustain her life.

Setan ended up agreeing, only because he thought that she was an interesting being herself. He figured that he could use her as a test subject for many of his experiments and inventions. She could tell that he didn't care as to whose side she was on her whose side Azazul was on.

She then saw Azazul, grinning at her while she was placed into her cell after being interrogated for eight hours straight. He seemed not to care that she was not giving him information in regards to any hideouts.

He grinned at her after he had taken her virginity by force, and stayed satisfied when her shocked form had been dragged out of the room by Farkas and one of the noghri; Lande. After she was placed in the cell, she could barely hear the older noghri hiss out, "This is sick, Farkas."

Farkas agreed.

So many thoughts and memories had begun to poison her mind. She turned the palms of her hands over and saw the impression of the concrete's unevenness on her skin.

She thought of the fact that she wished that she had never received the antidote.

She thought of the fact that she wished she had been right next to her friend, Barriss Offee, as her body was pulverized by the AT-TE's blast. She wished that she could have turned to ashes with her.

Instead, she was left in this world. The thought of the Force allowing her to go through such torture, as well as so many others, including those within that building caused her to become vengeful; she became angry with what she had fought for, for so long.

She hated those bastards who had brought pain to her. She hated them with every single fiber of her being.

She could feel Tanran come towards her with _her_ lightsaber ignited.

"I'm going to end this- Azazul will just have to find someone else to bed."

The blade swung through the air at such a fast pace, that people in the hanger screamed for him to stop. It sounded as if some of the clones, a couple of the guards, and Volutta had thought of the consequences of her death.

They never considered the consequences of her surviving this attack.

The blade powered off just before it hit her neck, and she opened her eyes when Tanran cursed.

"What the fuck?"

She grabbed his wrist with one hand and he was unable to shake her off. The strength she exuded had surprised him. It also frightened him.

"You know what your problem is, Tanran?"

The way she spoke was dark and calm.

"You have never felt true pain in your life."

She turned her head towards him and her face stayed emotionless. She did not show signs of agony in the slightest.

Her yellow eyes were bright and no longer kind.

"I think that it's time that you did."

She let go of his wrist and grabbed a hold of his left knee. With her other hand, she punched him in the side of his calf, faster than any of the people who witnessed could see.

His leg snapped and the bottom half flopped around, unnaturally. He screamed and fell over, unable to understand what had just happened, as his leg sprayed blood onto the ground.

The lightsaber flew out of his grasp and into the hand that had since released his now physically useless knee. She eyed it in contemplation, wondering if she would use it at all.

Several guards ran towards her in instinct, and she merely waved her free hand without even sparing them a glance. They all flew backward into whatever was in their way, including wall, person, and any ship that was parked.

The cries that the male twi'lek let lose had begun to annoy her.

She stood up and the other lightsaber had flown into her other hand. Aayla Secura's lightsaber was larger than her own but light. She gathered them both into one hand.

She walked towards the crippled man and her face remained the same; uncaring, unimpressed.

Apathetic.

Despite her vicious wounds, she had moved as if there was no harm done to her small frame.

The sight of his leg bent at an irregular angle didn't bother her as she said, "Why are you crying, Tanran?"

She read his mind and her eyes narrowed.

"You think you don't deserve this?"

She could feel Wylan run at her again, and she shot glance towards him.

She then put her free hand in his direction and created a fist. He stopped moving immediately and cringed as he was slammed into the ground.

"I'll be over to see you in a bit, Wylan."

Though her voice was gentle, the threat behind it was easily interpreted by the bald guard.

"Tanran, you are one of the most vile and pathetic people that I have ever met," she degraded. "To think that you would need to find sex from a child because you couldn't control your previous slave…"

She put her bare foot right on top of his crotch and then slammed it down.

The scream he let lose this time was high-pitched and animalistic.

"Would you like to know what it is like to be pounded into against your will?"

She continued to slam her foot down onto his privates, not distracted by his pathetic whimpering and everyone else's disgust.

She left him there with a broken manhood and focused on Wylan, who had turned angry at her for becoming violent.

"How interesting it is to see someone become upset for being hurt, when that same person disregards the people he has hurt himself."

She stood a meter away from him and twitched her hand.

The sound of a crack echoed and he roared from the sudden pain.

"You have sentenced three people to death today without even realizing what it feels like," she paused briefly. "When someone's body has become paralyzed to the point of muscle paralysis, it really and truly does hurt."

She caused another rib to break and then flew her hand around once again to rebound several blaster bolts. The troopers and the guards had begun to open fire, and Volutta was yelling out orders for them to do so.

Uriael decidedly powered her lightsaber and twirled it in such a way that all of the lasers changed direction and headed towards their creators.

As all of the men were too busy dodging the blasts, Uriael had ample time to finish what she had started. She broke every one of the ribs connected to his sternum and watched as he writhed and displayed tremors in all extremities.

"What you did to Himmel and the two troopers…"

She focused the Force around his lungs, which were trying their hardest to collect as much air as they could from his spasm-like breaths.

"…This is what it feels like."

Her hand once again turned into a fist and his lungs ruptured inside of his chest.

She walked away from his squirming, dying form and stood firmly in front of the large group of people that had finally commenced in their firing on her.

She grabbed the other lightsaber and turned it on as it twirled into her other hand. She used both to expertly shield herself from the blasts. She walked forward, without hesitation, and moved closer and closer to those firing on her.

When any of the clones took a pause in pulling their triggers, they were sent flying into the wall of the hanger. She picked them off, one by one, minimizing the resistance.

The two troopers who had been poisoned stayed where they had fallen, and could not help but to try and gasp for air.

She walked towards them and her brows furrowed over as she sent the tip of each saber into the back of their necks. Their movements stilled and they no longer felt any pain.

The lightsabers moved in front of her immediately after and continued to defend her. After a few minutes, there were no available clones left.

As the six guards that were left ceased their fire, she powered down the blue lightsaber and shoved it into the top of her leggings, leaving her own on. She took a look at each of them and judged their thoughts.

Two of them ran at her. She saw that they were the same that had taken the initiative to attack Himmel not long ago. She effortlessly evaded the blades without using her weapon. Her movements were fluid and she danced around them smoothly.

One of them became frustrated and left himself open and vulnerable when he positioned the sword over his head. She bent her knees to decrease the height that she was positioned in and sent her hand into his stomach with the fingers pointed.

He dropped his blade behind him and his eyes bulged as a mixture of substances were forced from his mouth; blood, brown bile, and brownish red tissue splattered on the ground behind Uriael.

As he fell, she made the same movement into the other man's right flank while he turned to run. He dropped and screamed at the sensation caused by his kidney having exploded within him.

The last four guards ran at her with a mixture of emotions and vibroblades held high. She didn't even consider where she would wound them and sent her hands against their bodies without restraint. Three had fallen and only one remained.

He was younger than the others and barely stood as his legs shook uncontrollably. His forehead was concentrated with sweat and he was obviously petrified.

"You're new, aren't you?"

She stopped his movement and his body grew stiff like a board under the will of the Force. Her eyes met his and there was a brief second in which she felt bad for what she was about to do to him.

But the darkness easily overcame whatever merciful intentions tried to manifest within her.

The amount of time that it took for her to concentrate on ripping 42 percent of his muscles into uselessness was only a few seconds; it took only the first one to break for him to shout in suffering.

She released her hold on him and ignored his crying as he fell into a loosened heap. As she looked over at Volutta, who appeared as if she was about to lose her mind, she didn't feel like wasting her time on the pitiful female.

"Not worth it."

"How about myself?"

Uriael's eyes narrowed and she turned to find Setan standing out in the middle of the landing, observing the damage that she had done to Azazul's men. He was not angry; only curious and observant towards the scene.

"I heard the commotion from the overhead communicators. Apparently you've been busy, Jeedai, and are able to use this… Force."

His accent was unlike anything that Uriael had ever heard.

But the fact that she could not sense him through the Force was unlike anything she had ever heard of.

"I was growing bored the past couple of months, to be honest. Though I am proud of the inhibitors that I created, I wonder if I should have made them weaker in strength."

He pondered on the young noghri whose eyes were shut and who had been poisoned with his own supply.

"It is quite unnerving to know that the stupid human was in my laboratory. I am surprised that my amphistaff did not attack him as soon as he stepped foot into the room," he complained. "No matter, though- you certainly took care of him."

She moved towards him after powering her saber down, leaving it within her hold. She knew that the lightsaber would be useless against the strange attire that he wore.

"I'm about to make your stay much less boring," she finally replied while walking towards the left most edge of the landing outside of the hanger.

"I appreciate that, Jeedai," he grinned while his blue and black and white eyes searched over her. "It will be fun to witness Rokujou scramble about when he returns from his mission."

Uriael cocked an eyebrow at him and wondered briefly where that man could have been. She had not the opportunity to punish him for his deeds.

"I can't wait to see what this Darth Maul does in response."

She faced the traffic, her eyes still blazing yellow from the dark side that had used her.

"Me neither."

She dove into the traffic and fell past all of the speeders, hoping that she would be dead before she made it to the bottom.

* * *

After the video stopped and a menu with all of the folders had appeared on the wall, Farkas went over and turned the projection application off on his data-pad. He stayed quiet and waited for Darth Maul to make the first move or to say a single word.

The youngling had decided to shut her eyes and cover her ears when the images of Lande's head being cut off had shown. She would occasionally look up briefly before shutting her eyes again, until she saw that the wall was no longer being used as a screen.

Maul's sight remained glued to the wall, as if he was unable to let go of the images that were still fresh within his sight and mind. At some point during the footage, he had leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees in concentration.

There were a multitude of things within these files that had added wood to the fire brewing within him. Tanran's actions were enough to have him court marshaled as well as the guard Wylan. Maul was so sure about wanting to tear the twi'lek's skin off of his hide that the surprise of the Jedi's action against him turned the fire into ice…very cold, very bitter ice.

She had started off maintaining a defensive position, not only for herself but for the noghri as well. The girl had even gone as far as to use her own back as a shield for Himmel. After she had leapt off of the building, he had finally died.

After she had knocked him out, something had changed within her. Her movements became sinister and calculating, and her overall demeanor had turned to stone.

He knew what it was. He could almost feel the power of the dark side take over the midi-chlorians that made up her whole being when she attacked Tanran.

The development, in his opinion, was so important that he wanted to punch a wall to vent the pent up adrenaline that had his pulse racing.

As he thought about what his next plan of action should consist of, something within his bedroom had begun to make itself known. It was light and warm and he was certain that if it did not stop that one of the idiots several levels below might be able to tell that someone who professionally willed the light side of the Force was in his room.

He got up immediately and stomped off into the room and stilled at the sight before him.

* * *

When she woke up, the first thing she noticed was that she was lying on a bed. Not just a small mattress on a floor and not a couch, and she certainly was not in the council chamber in the temple where she had last remembered being.

This bed was immensely comfortable and despite the fact that she was lying flat on her front side, she could easily fall back to sleep without a care.

But the fact that she had hoped to be left for dead the day before had lessened her appetite for pleasures such as comfort.

She opened her eyes and looked around the room she was in. She had never been inside of this room before, but she knew where she was.

She noticed that there was an IV infusion currently entering her right arm, and she followed the tubing up to where it was connected to a nearly empty bag of saline. The sound of rain hitting the large, ornate window was thick.

Her eyes were heavy and she shut them out of discomfort. She then tried to lift herself up by pushing against her hands, but found that straightening her back led to a whole new feeling of discomfort.

That was when she remembered the lacerations on her back. There must have been several dressings covering the whole of her posterior torso. She guessed that a wet-to-dry technique was used.

"Are you feeling alright, Ma'am?"

She moved her head to her right and had only then noticed the GH-7 medical analysis unit droid that had been in that room for a little over an hour.

"I'm not sure at the moment, to be honest," she answered quietly.

"Would you like some assistance?"

"Sure," she allowed, while the droid floated over to her to help her sit up.

She noticed that she was wearing a cream-colored robe backwards; the opening was on her back side so as to allow easy access to her wounds.

Uriael assessed her situation carefully and ascertained that she must have been found by the Sith. She could feel his presence in the living room as well as Farkas and the youngling.

He certainly had been making it a habit to interfere with her life.

The med-droid started to scan her vitals, noting that they had normalized.

She could feel that the majority of the blood that had been lost on the previous day had almost been completely restored. She felt a lot warmer than she had as well.

"How long was I out, for?"

"Approximately 14 hours."

She sighed.

"I would like to take the dressings off, now."

The droid paused and began to protest.

"Ma'am, the dressings are there to protect the wounds from infection and to promote healing. I strongly suggest that you refrain from-"

The tape had already been stripped off before he could finish. The pads of gauze stayed stuck to the wet gauze within her wounds, which meant that there must have been extensive drainage.

She concentrated herself and began to forcefully pull the gauze packed within her wounds out and placed them all on the floor while being sure to examine at least one of the wet dressings. It was completely bloody and went through to the gauze covering.

"Moderate amount of sanguinous exudate and there is no foul odor," she explained aloud and the med-droid made note of the observation that he agreed with. "How much is it bleeding?"

He moved towards her back and noticed only a minimal amount of active bleeding.

"Around 20 percent of the wounds as a whole are actively bleeding."

She nodded her head and cracked her neck. If she was going to be forced to stay alive for the time being, she did not want to be covered in gauze and tape.

She sat cross-legged on the bed and once again shut her eyes. Her hands rested in her lap and her mind ignored everything except for the indurations on her back.

'_Let go of everything… ease my mind…'_

Her body's healing and cellular reconstruction factors were important to focus on.

'… _platelets… cease the bleeding…'_

Her platelet count would easily rise through her technique. She had the utmost confidence in that fact and could feel that the bleeding had already started to end.

'… _faster… faster… heal the muscle…'_

She also knew that the cells within her muscle fibers would easily begin to multiply, to replace that which was missing or damaged. That wasn't what her issue was at the moment.

The sensation of the lacerated flesh ever so slowly coming together caused her pain; mental and emotional.

'… _I'm sorry I did it…'_

The tissues pulled together and healed, as if they had never been damaged in the first place. If only she could heal her soul in the same, simple fashion.

'… _I didn't realize… the extent of what they had done to me…"_

"Oh my…" the droid said while he observed the many wounds heal before his robotic eyes.

'… _I didn't realize… how damaged I've become…'_

'_I'm sorry. I am so unbelievably sorry.'_

She felt the Force wrap around her, as if capturing her from behind in a warm embrace.

'_It's ok… everything will be ok…'_

Uriael almost shed tears at the sound of her uncle's voice, which soothed her pain even if it was only a momentary relief. She remained unwavering, however, during the sensation of nerve endings being brought back together.

'_Master Tiin… I could really use some guidance…'_

The med-droid watched on as the wounds continued to decrease in length, width, and depth; all at once.

'_It has always been my greatest belief that you could heal anything…'_

The dark room began to take on a greenish-blue hue, from the light that emanated from her back.

'_Your potential spans far beyond the realm of physical healing…'_

The sound of the door opening did not faze her. If anything, it helped urge her to finish her work.

'_You have the ability to heal a person's spirit…'_

Her dermis and epidermis had finally mended. From what the droid could see, there was hardly a trace of any injuries that she may have had.

'_You will find a way to heal yourself…'_

The light had begun to fade away, but its blanketing warmth remained.

'_May the Force be with you, my niece…'_

Uriael opened her eyes and found that she was very tired from her healing meditation. Due to the speed that she had healed the wounds, there was a reasonable explanation to her exhaustion.

Before she could lean back against the head of the bed, she noticed that she had a small audience within the room, and all eyes were on her.

Maul stood at the front of the group and he began to fold his arms in front of his chest, as was his normal stance. Farkas was behind him and had to straighten his own expression out; he appeared to have been in awe. The youngling stood beside him, her hands pressed firmly against the opening of the doorway.

Something seemed off in terms of how interesting she was at that moment. She felt slightly awkward with how the Sith was staring at her, but at the same time there was something more intended with the look he gave.

"You all look as if you've seen a ghost," she said, gently.

The Sith walked towards the bed and lifted an eyebrow at her.

"No… just a shadow."

* * *

Dun dun DUUUUUUNNNN.

(RIP Ryan Dunn :(...)

So, I have three more things... Firstly, try and guess which part of this made me cry while writing it. No joke, I shed multiple tears...

Secondly, I was wondering out of curiosity the male to female demographics in terms of fans of this story. For research purposes, I'd like to know who is what (MALE/FEMALE). Totally up tp you guys to disclose such personal information.

And BTW, you totally have to leave a review to answer either one of these two things. Bwahahahahahaaaaa...

THIRDLY (I stress this with all caps), I would suggest that you add this story to your alerts. Though it is nice to see that I am a favorite author to some or that this is a favorite story, I've noticed that a lot of the fans haven't added "Hurt" to their alerts. I realize that for a few years I went on hiatus and that I may have lost several fans, but even to those that have yet to comment, it can be useful so that you don't have to wait for that one day that you end up perusing Maul-centric fics.

Alright! Hopefully I will get this next one out before or a little bit after this next semester of mine starts up. Thanks for reading!


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